


The Belly of the Void

by deathwailart



Series: Dragon Knights [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Dwarves, Elves, F/F, Gen, High Fantasy, Knights - Freeform, Nightmares, Nymphs & Dryads, Slow Burn, discussion of slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-02-28 22:26:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 63,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2749403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathwailart/pseuds/deathwailart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When troubling earthquakes and tremors begin to threaten the north of Stjarnacado and the secretive dwarves are suspected, an elven princess requests the aid of a human Dragon Knight, fabled warriors skilled with both weapons and magic and now a relic of their former glories, to guard her on her journey.  Meeting up with a wood nymph, they uncover a disturbing truth about the tremors that stretches back to the aftermath of the elven-dwarven war on humans and nymphs that saw the humans crushed and their dragons lost to them for over four centuries.</p><p>Along the way, friendships are made and the princess and the knight battle with the legacy of the war and the impacts it has had on their peoples even now, perhaps finding more than friendship even as they discover secrets that threaten to upset a peace that is more tentative than it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

With a sigh Tanis turned away from Jormsen to begin the trek to Tishlen. Twenty-one and a northern lass through and through, that was what could be said for Tanis. Her hair long and dark, not quite black, falling past her shoulders when down but almost always she wore it tied back practically, a long straight ponytail that tucked into her armour. Hazel eyes, high cheekbones, a strong jaw with a straight nose; it was the sort of face that was said to be the face of old, the features those from Jormsen were known for in comparison to their kin elsewhere. Tall for a woman, even one from Jormsen where they ate comparatively better than the nomads who came to visit and all children being provided for equally. Broad shoulders and strong muscles in her arms and legs from years spent working hard with weapons and wearing armour until she could move in the armour and keep swinging her sword no matter how exhausted she was. Her armour glittered even in the weak winter sun, Jormsen colours, burnished gold for the breastplate, a warm cloak of darkest blue with trimmings in golden thread and clasps made of polished antler, the ends smoothed so as not to cause injury. Her bracers were formed of many metal scales like the necklace about her throat though other simpler things hung below it, hidden by the armour. Charms for luck and protection, for strength in battle, for clarity, the oldest runes to keep her safe from harm. The gaiters she wore tied around her lower legs were much the same but her boots and trousers were leather, soft on the inside and comfortable for travel. She'd never worn any heavy armour on her lower half except in training, too cumbersome for anyone to use much in battle and her people had never favoured such things, even in the old days. Since she'd be undertaking the entire journey to Tishlen and beyond on foot, she'd rather sacrifice most of the protection for her legs for the sake of comfort and not tiring herself.  
  
The worst of the winter snows had all but ended but even if a blizzard had blown hard enough to flay the flesh from her bones complete with blinding showers of snow and ice, had the rulers in Tishlen wanted her, she would have had to leave. She had not been picked by name but she had been picked nonetheless. A young woman to accompany an elven princess on a journey, a warrior who would do her duty and defend her and the elders had looked to Tanis after they had conferred in private and she had accepted. Not that it was a true choice. If she had said no she might have been forced and reminded of duty, not only to their elven rulers but to her people too but if she had said no she would have had to face the shame of refusing to do something that might help. _Might_. It was unthinkable and she couldn't in all her twenty-one years remember a time when someone had ever refused such a thing and if they _had_ then it was likely they had left with the nomads, never again to return to Jormsen, choosing an almost exile. They would not be spoken of again, she'd heard stories as they all had growing up together in the village that clung to life in the shattered ruins of a once great kingdom.  
  
_You must do your duty to your people_ , they were all told as children as they learned their letters. _You are the mountains and the snow and ice, you are the last of our people. You are Jormsen and we only survive when we are one._  
  
It was easier to accept when she was small and didn't know what the words meant and when it didn't mean she was a lamb to the slaughter, sent off after a blessing by the oldest and wisest women in newly forged armour with newly forged weapons. Torrin's smithing, she knew his work, and it gave her more comfort than the blessings did for some reason. Perhaps because Torrin devoted his life to his work, broad shoulders and arms thick with muscle, Tanis one of the only people he spoke to with any regularity because his life was the forge, the smell of molten metal and soot, the clang of the hammers and anvils and the hiss of cooling steel. Anything else was a distraction in his mind and though he was never unkind – blunt perhaps, to the point with little time for idle chatter – he preferred to devote himself to his craft, Ferrum's student in the same way Tanis was Confgra's. Even in the absence of the dragons these past four hundred years and more, Jormsen at least kept the old ways and traditions, remembered the great creatures with whom they had forged an empire across Stjarnacado in the beginning times. Even if so much had been lost. Even if even the _names_ of many dragons, even the great dragons, had been lost to the war and to time, the remnants caring more for survival and surviving day-to-day than the names of those lost one way or another. Tanis was Confgra's, the great fire dragon, flames that flowed through her fed by her own breath, stronger than the rest of her magic. It was rare in Jormsen in the cold and snow, to be one of those who burned brightly and perhaps that was another reason the elders had chosen her.  
  
_I won't miss them_ , she thought to herself as she summoned flames in the palm of her left hand as she picked her way down the mountain path, her right arm extended to steady herself. She knew Jormsen well, knew all but the very highest peaks of the mountains and the thick forest right to the border with Borea, the forest of nymphs but even so, the paths were treacherous. She was in no real hurry either; even if she wouldn't miss her elders, she would miss Jormsen. Like almost everyone else, she'd been born there and had never left their borders. Her life had been spent in the shadow of the mountains, Dragetro the former throne of Solace, the leader of the dragons who had first come down to speak with the earliest humans, the only one to change her form to be the same as theirs so they would not be afraid. The Fangs, the great castle carved into the mountain itself that had been her home since the age of seventeen when she had begun her training. No royalty remained now, no true rulers outside of the council of elders, made up of the oldest members of the community and mostly women, the ones who made the decisions regarding how life would be lived and who kept records of all who remained. Some of royal and noble blood remained but in name only, like Tanis herself, her father Hákon only a name to her and a few stories told to her by her mother Ragna and some others. He had come to Jormsen for training too but he was from far in the south or he had come from there. She didn't know why they cared about who was noble and who wasn't. They didn't rule, they had no kings or queens now, not of their own people. Jormsen was ruled by Tishlen and that was that. She would miss the communal halls that smelled of wood and smoke where they all crowded together to eat and drink, the few places that felt merry because the Fangs were solemn no matter what, even in the great hall. She'd preferred going back to the halls for meals when she wanted companionship rather than sitting and eating in a room of stone with a high ceiling that made even a whisper turn into a shout and where the elders sat above them all and watched.  
  
It was a rare thing to be alone, to be _truly_ alone, in Jormsen but it was easier to lose yourself in a crowded room where everyone could congregate. In the Fangs were the elders of course and the best smiths and their apprentices, like Torrin, the scholars and archivists who kept track of all they had and still salvaged from before the war or the purge as they called it. She didn't know what the elves or dwarves called it and she couldn't bring herself to care either. It was over, it was done, you kept your head down and got on with life as best you could. The rest of the Fangs housed those who defended Jormsen against any bandits that came, humans who spurned the life of the nomads and who didn't care that they were kith and kin to those in Jormsen and who would take what they could. Sometimes they bore letters from elves or dwarves, even other human settlements, or so she had heard. She'd fought them, killed them, reported the deaths like she was meant to and it was only in whispered conversations that she heard any of it from her fellows, usually in moments during training where they caught their breath or as they bathed in the baths in the depths of Jormsen fed by hot springs. Sometimes, when she'd been joined by others on patrols of the forests or mountains to keep the wild beasts that grew bold and hard in the cold, she was asked her opinion on it but she had always tried not to make a fuss, tried to escape notice as much as she could. Being of noble blood through her father had caused enough pain in her life, she didn't need to draw more attention to herself ever again and yet here she found herself, en route to Tishlen, leaving home for the first time proper. She was a Dragon Knight, an old title but something she had spent her whole life proving herself for like the rest, only the very best accepted into the training. Their best fighters with as many weapons as they could be trained to use, the best hunters and trackers, the best at surviving in the thick forests and freezing mountains with little to no supplies and of course those who were the most skilled with magic channelled for destruction. But even Dragon Knights or perhaps especially Dragon Knights were expected to be something more and to be an example of all that they could be, a person who gave all that they were in service to their people.  
  
To be a Dragon Knight was to be the sword of your people and their shield, to be duty and honour bound tightly together, to be the very elements made flesh to keep their people safe from _almost_ everything. Never elves though. Never dwarves. Only from their own that were no longer their own and whatever wild animals came in search of a meal.  
  
She sighed as she shouldered her pack more securely, the arrows in her quiver rattling as she slid the last few feet on her backside through the snow to the very base of Jormsen's well used path, standing back to dust herself off as best she could as she peered up at her home. It seemed very small from here. Sad too. The mountains dominated, still completely white, no speck of dark stone or the few plants that could cling on and survive, the forest stretching off to the west. She could just make out the grey face of the Fangs, named so as the mouth of the mountain, the dots of their little wooden homes that always seemed large even when crowded. She wondered what the nomads thought when they came here. Her elders always made it sound so grand, the last stronghold of humanity, the last to be defeated, the one that kept the old ways and still had a castle. It didn't change the fact that it looked like nothing. Not like the old illustrations in the books Tanis had seen. Where she stood now had once been part of their kingdom too, when it had been a kingdom. The border with Tishlen had been so close, at least on a map, that a person could have walked with one foot in Jormsen and the other in Tishlen. She supposed that, in a manner of speaking, Jormsen shared a border with Tishlen in belonging to it but it wasn't the sort of thing you ever said. In all honesty it didn't ever come up much in daily life unless rumours came to them of an elven raid for slaves being planned. She could well remember the times she had cowered with the other children, her heart pounding as she prayed to Solace that she would not be taken away to be kept in chains by some elf. She'd seen them once, in their light armour with their long bows, riding their griffins that hissed and growled at anyone who got too close. She'd been pulled away from the window by someone, perhaps another child, perhaps one of the caretakers but she'd never seen one again.  
  
The raids were rare but just enough to remind the people of Jormsen that they belonged to the elves.  
  
Now she would have to go to their city and bend her knee, swearing that she would defend the crown princess against whatever crossed their path as she investigated the rumours that had come to the kingdom. She hadn't wanted to leave this morning when the master of arms had woken her roughly to tell her to eat and get into her armour, thrusting a tray of porridge and berries at her. It had been sweetened with honey, she could still taste it, a rare treat because she'd be leaving them, perhaps never to return. Torrin's face had been blank as he'd helped her into her armour but he'd embraced her and she'd swallowed the sob in her throat. She hadn't cried since she'd turned eighteen and Torrin damn well knew that and she had decided that no elf would ever force a tear from her eye. She had whispered to him that she hadn't wanted to leave because Torrin would not think her weak or cowardly for saying so but he had had no words to comfort her, just one of his big hands on her shoulder, his thick dark eyebrows furrowed as his raked his other hand through his curls in frustration.  
  
"You must," he'd told her, "it is your duty. If you do not..."  
  
He hadn't needed to finish and so she'd let herself be blessed, had let her mother Ragna tuck pouches of herbs into her pack and had awkwardly accepted a kiss on her brow and another embrace – careful, because Ragna was a healer, her body soft and not used to armour – all before first light and most of the village leaving. It was better that way. To disappear like a thief in the night before she would have to see familiar faces that had either known her from birth or that she had known from birth. She had no choice but to go and if she tried to run she would likely incur the wrath of the elves and she would not be selfish or spineless and let her people suffer because she was afraid.  
  
"I am the sword of my people," she told herself as she turned her back on Jormsen and swore not to look over her shoulder, instead pulling a map from the pouch at her hip to check her path to Tishlen. "I am their shield. I am their magic and their fire," she continued, an old oath tailored slightly for each of them as she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other. "I am Jormsen, I am daughter of the mountains and the dragons, of snow and ice. I am not afraid." _Liar_ , the wind whispered as it whipped at her hair and stung her eyes until they watered. _Liar_. The snow crunched under her boots and she felt exposed and very alone now. She had spent days alone in the mountains and in the forest but where the mountains were always empty and impossible to scale unless you knew what you were doing and the forest offering plenty of cover, the sudden stretch of tundra before her almost made her panic, a few pathetic bare trees attempting to grow and a low cover of scrubby brush that perhaps came as high as her knees in places, most of it still under the cover of snow that would take a long time to melt. Game would be rare here, she realised, whatever animals that still remained would be able to see her long before she spotted them or had time to loose an arrow in their direction. At least she'd been given enough supplies to get her to Tishlen if she took care with them and she would not want for water, not with snow and ice and her magic. It wouldn't take long to see the gates of Tishlen where she'd need to show the papers that had been sent to the elders to permit her passage through the city and to the palace but she'd still have to sleep on the way and the thought of pitching a tent and having to sleep alone with no cover where anyone or anything could come at her was one that unsettled her. It had been years since she'd felt anxious about something like this. Even children in Jormsen learned to take care of themselves but that was in the forest and this was no forest, this was empty space as far as the eye could see and she hated it. Not a single sign that her people had once called this place home and it stung unexpectedly.  
  
She shouldered her pack once more and loosened her sword in its sheathe, summoning flames to dance in her left hand along her fingertips once more. Head down, one foot in front of the other, get to Tishlen, do your duty to your people and, if you're lucky, return home to the life you've lead for the last four years. She wished she'd asked the nomads how quickly feeling homesick struck and if it tasted bitter as bile in the back of her throat. Homesick was better than afraid. She'd been afraid, truly afraid, only a handful of times since she'd been considered an adult by her people and those times had always been painful and lonely, still enough to set her heart to racing and to upset her stomach and this was nothing compared to that. She was a woman now who'd come through every test and every trial and had never been found wanting and the tundra wasn't going to beat her. But still, it was nothing like the patrols she took in the forest. The outskirts were touched by snow but deeper in and the canopy of trees prevented much of the snow from penetrating, only found in patches where a tree had died and no others had taken advantage of the sudden light and space to grow. You always dressed more lightly in the forest compared to anywhere else because it felt unseasonably warm for the north, the thick press of trees doing a great deal to block out the very worst of the wind although as a child it had frightened her to hear how it howled through the trees like some sort of angry living beast. In time she'd grown to love the forest or rather what it gave her; time alone and away from everyone else as she patrolled in a world that seemed to be stuck at dawn or dusk until suddenly the darkness swallowed everything. Jormsen's forests were wild, offering plenty of game for the skilled hunter, deer and elk, wilder relatives of the goats and sheep her people kept all for good for meat, hide and antlers, wolves and bears and large cats for their fur and claws. There were numerous birds including the griffins that were native to the north, most of them white, grey and brown, dappled to hide them in the snow more than the forest and who sometimes hissed and shrieked but they were placid and no trouble compared to the leaping shrike. Nasty little birds that in the right numbers could kill a person, possessed of vicious tempers and she'd felt their beaks and claws more than once in her life when she'd wandered into a nesting area by accident. Ogres made their home in the forest too, monstrous ugly things when they rose from up on all four limbs but like the giants that mostly stayed in the mountains to the north, so long as you were calm and quiet around them and didn't come too close, they either watched or remained hidden. Moving so slowly they ended up covered in moss and other plants and with their rough grey or brown skin they resembled boulders or lumps of old log, easy enough to confuse someone and there were stories of people taking a seat only to find it rising, forcing them to run and hide from an upset ogre. The nymphs Tanis had met assured her that in their forests, the ogres were much more gentle, a part of the very woods themselves. Tanis had taken their word for it but still kept her distance, possessing no desire to drag herself back to Jormsen with broken bones she did not have the skill to heal.  
  
It was likely that the worst she'd have to fight would only be wolves or bears, maybe a large cat if she was particularly unlucky but the worst she'd encounter would be bandits roaming the plains or elves who didn't care about the summons and the documents in her pouch. She'd never wanted to meet an elf before but the summons had no sooner been delivered than the elf had disappeared again on their griffin, the colour of soot with feathers tipped red as blood. A royal griffin, no doubt about that.  
  
What would this princess be like, she wondered. Older than Tanis, probably older than anyone Tanis had even known in her life. The elders could live a long time but even the cold got to the natives eventually. Their joints became sore and ached when they moved, hands gnarled with swellings that must hurt when knocked for the curses that escaped them in such an event. They could never get warm, even by the fire, even wrapped in warm furs, cloaks and blankets. A rattling cough settled in the lungs and if the air hurt enough for her to breathe some days she couldn't imagine what it must be like for them, trying to breathe only to cough and wheeze when it hurt that made them gasp all the harder until their faces were red and they had to sit down or be taken to one of the warmer rooms, usually all the way down to the baths to inhale the steam until they no longer looked ready to collapse. She couldn't imagine herself being old. It was rare really, to be old and grey, it was why they were the leaders and respected the way that they were for having managed to survive all that the world had tried to throw at them. Dragon Knights never lived long lives though. Most people were considered old if they reached fifty or even sixty but there was a reason they had their children young and had as many as they could. It was a hard life and a short one and Dragon Knights eventually gave their lives before they even had a chance to go grey. She'd made her peace with that when she'd been training and when the elders had announced that they had chosen her to go to Tishlen to accompany the elven princess and guard her, she'd already accepted that there was a chance she wouldn't make the return journey to Jormsen. Her breath fogged the air before her as she walked, her footsteps the first to mar the snow that crunched beneath her boots. She'd be in her nineties if they were of a similar age, near as Tanis could work out though the intricacies of how elves defined age were lost on her, no quick burst of childhood for elves but the thought of being so young for so long and yet having lived almost twice the average lifespan of a human was mindboggling to Tanis. Would this princess be cruel? Would she have ever left Tishlen at all? Would she have seen a human who wasn't in chains?  
  
She shook her head and forced herself to pay attention to her surroundings, coaxing the flames in her hand to burn hotter with a single thought. No good would come of asking questions now, she'd just have to wait until she reached Tishlen but unlike when she went on patrol there was no quiet inside her own head. The thrumming tension in the back of her head that kept her looking this way and that, the imagined weight of the summons in the pouch at her hip, the not knowing, it all twisted in her stomach and kept her from finding the calm she usually felt whenever she was alone. It wasn't as if her mind went utterly blank in the forest or the mountains but her thoughts only ever tended to chase themselves in circles like this when sleep wouldn't come. It felt too much like being seventeen again when her fate was out of her hands and she was at the mercy of the elders and though it had worked out in her favour, there had been long terrible sleepless nights where she hadn't slept for days on end no matter how exhausted she'd been, pacing her small stone room with nothing to occupy her until the morning. She didn't like to think back on those months if she could help it but it was the same feeling she had now. A sort of helplessness she didn't know what to do with, as if it were all slipping through her fingers. Life in Jormsen was routine, it was predictable. You were raised to think of your people first and aiding them and when you were in Jormsen it was easy enough. You did as asked from when you woke to when you went to bed and you repeated it every day from when you were old enough to start lessons until the day you died. Something like this where she didn't know what would be on the horizon, when she started to feel resentment and frustration sink their teeth in, guilt and shame at feeling that in the first place creeping in hot on their heels, _that_ was something she had only faced when she'd been a girl (a girl so _desperate_ to be seen as a woman that it was only now that she realised just how young and afraid she'd really been) and once she had started her training with the sort of punishing schedules expected of them, she'd put it to one side. You didn't talk about dreams in Jormsen, especially not when you dreamt that you were a dragon flying high above the world and out into nothingness.  
  
Making camp before it was dark was the only sensible plan and the first night she was fortunate enough to find a small tree lashed by a storm until it had split apart, a few small bare bushes providing shelter as she pitched her tent and tucked her hands under her armpits. She wasn't cold exactly, someone who was used to the north and who knew fire as she did never truly felt the cold as others did but she could feel herself shaking when she set camp. It made her grit her teeth until her jaw hurt as she risked a fire to melt snow for drinking with her supper of salted beef and bread, chewing mechanically. The wind whipped the sides of the tent when she retreated in for the night, not daring to remove her armour, not on this first night as the cold from the ground threatened to leach the heat from her very bones. With small flames on her fingertips, she carefully read the summons again though at this stage the words seemed to be etched in her mind.  
  
_Their majesties of House Aenvi, monarchs of Tishlen and all the northern territories of Stjarnacado as defined by the boundaries agreed upon at the last gathering of the Houses, request the following to be provided with utmost urgency:_  
  
One Dragon Knight, of age with Ilea of House Aenvi, daughter of their majesties, to accompany her on her journey. Full details of this will be discussed upon arrival at an audience before their majesties. This knight is to be of the highest quality to be entrusted with the safety of the princess and what they might face on their journey.  
  
The rest was written in the elven tongue and likely contained many more flourishes that her own rudimentary translation but it was not addressed to her or her elders and instead to whoever guarded the gates of Tishlen, informing them that whoever happened to be in possession of these papers was granted access to the palace. It was signed on behalf of the king and queen and bore the royal seal of Tishlen, a single snowflake pierced by an arrow, the wax palest blue. Her elders had sent off a letter of their own to inform them of the choice they had made and a single reply had been sent to tell them it had been accepted. She traced the letters with her fingers, the ink unfamiliar; it glittered in the light, containing some sort of pigment that might have existed in old books in their archives but time and poor conditions had dulled it. It was tempting to behave like a spiteful child and burn it but she'd need it and she didn't trust these elves enough to go there without presenting it to the guards and whoever else asked to see it. An armed human travelling alone and requesting passage to the palace could hardly be a common sight and even though the elves thought of a Dragon Knight as simply a title they kept to remind themselves of the past, a part of her she longed to silence if only for her own sanity refused to stop whispering the what-if that scared her most: if, should she survive whatever journey this princess wanted her to undertake with her, she would be allowed to return to her home or would she be made to stay in Tishlen. Despite her status her people would not risk the reprisals to come after her and if she was Jormsen and she had done her duty, she was not worth rescuing. As soon as she stepped into Tishlen she was at their mercy and the elves knew it. If it came to that she already knew that she would sooner take her own life and the life of as many elves as she could before she found herself wearing shackles and treated like little more than a pet and an oddity. For all that they feared magic and were vulnerable to it, the elves certainly liked to have it around if they could dictate how it was used. Eventually she was forced to tuck the summons back in the pouch, stow the metal cup in her pack and try to sleep though it was a long time in coming as she tossed and turned fitfully, alert at every tiny sound outside her tent and the way the wind threatened to rip through it or blow it over. Still she tried. She needed to be on her guard in Tishlen, arriving weary from lack of sleep was the worst thing she could do but her mind or her body wouldn't listen and so each and every night she tossed and turned, sleeping in fitful bursts until first light.


	2. Chapter 2

At last though, a week since setting out from Jormsen she found a true road and knew she was close. She'd known from her map the night before but it was another thing to see evidence of it and she was glad she'd forced herself to bathe in an icy stream the night before, washing her clothes and armour as best she could. At least the snow meant there was little dirt save for the day she went hunting, needing something to do with herself that didn't involve monotonous hours of walking and staring out at miles and miles of white, far as the eye could see. She'd found one small rabbit, not even enough of a pelt to make a single glove if she'd been home but she'd made herself a spit and after so many days of dry food it had been the best thing she'd tasted and she'd eaten it greedily, sucking the juices from her fingers. The remains had fed a wolf that had ventured close but even though it had been a mean-eyed skinny thing it had only come close enough to snap up the skin and bones and guts in one bite before it had run off. She'd eat better tonight she assumed. At least she'd be indoors and away from the howling wind and she hated that she felt grateful for that. Fortunately she hadn't seen a single soul on the road because she wasn't ready to face their scrutiny and to have to explain herself because she knew the routes the nomads took and they were all planned so they had no reason to use any of the elven roads for fear of being attacked and killed or taken prisoner. The elves possessed sight far greater than humans and she knew the guards would spot her before she spotted them so she forced herself not to clutch her sword or summon any magic, instead keeping an even pace as she clutched the straps of her pack instead, waiting for the gates to come into view.  
  
When they did she had to stop and stare dumbly.  
  
Tall gates loomed far too close, a small cadre of guards patrolling them, dressed in silver and mulberry, white and palest blue, Tishlen's colours the way Jormsen's were dark blue and gold. The gates themselves were some sort of white stone topped in gold domes that narrowed into lethal spikes and when the clouds parted and the sun hit the kingdom proper she found herself squinting. The whole place seemed to glow even from a distance, blinding her worse than the snow ever had and she had to swallow tightly and settle her cloak on her shoulders, swallowing down the bile that suddenly scorched her throat and soured her stomach. With numb fingers she reached into her pouch to open it, readying the summons to be presented. She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and murmured a prayer to Solace to watch over her even if the dragons were long gone some sort of white stone topped in gold domes that narrowed into lethal spikes and when the clouds parted and the sun hit the kingdom proper she found herself squinting. The whole place seemed to glow even from a distance, blinding her worse than the snow ever had and she had to swallow tightly and settle her cloak on her shoulders, swallowing down the bile that suddenly scorched her throat and soured her stomach. With numb fingers she reached into her pouch to open it, readying the summons to be presented. She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and murmured a prayer to Solace to watch over her even if the dragons were long gone from this world, either dead as some believed or simply very far away, unable or unwilling to return.  
  
The guards noticed her before she came too close and she wouldn't let them see her frightened as she approached, readying the summons as two approached, hands on their swords. The rest would all have their bows trained on her, she was sure of it.  
  
"Greetings," she began, reminding herself that she was not to use her native tongue before these elves, not now, not ever.  
  
"State your business," one of the elves ordered sharply and she forced herself not to react as she nodded.  
  
"I have a summons," she explained, holding it out for them to take, "I am Tanis of Jormsen, a Dragon Knight as requested." She couldn't read their expressions and this close they didn't look as different as she imagined they might. Their eyes were larger with slitted pupils like a cat and of course there were the ears and the two before her stood taller than her, more slender too but if she had passed them from a distance, she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between them and a human. It unsettled her more than she could examine as one handed the summons to the other, looking her up and down. _What must they think of me?_ She wondered as she hoped her expression remained neutral and friendly, giving them no reason to think of her as up to anything. _Am I the first Dragon Knight they've seen? Would they even know what such a thing is?_ It was impossible to tell how old they were, only that they were likely far older than her if a princess of a similar age required an escort to protect her.  
  
"Come with us. If you draw a weapon or use your magic we will not hesitate to take action," the second elf – this one a male, she realised suddenly, the voice a little deeper, the matching armour and similar build having done nothing to help her tell male from female. "We will escort you to the gate," he continued as he lead the way, Tanis falling into step with the first elf now behind her, "and from there you will be escorted to the palace. You are to obey our laws at all times, you are not to interfere and you will do as asked, when asked and answer all questions, do you understand?"  
  
"I do, yes," she replied quickly, nodding as she felt her cheeks flush with shame. She was nothing to them, barely even a person and it burned more than she thought it would.  
  
"You're earlier than expected," the female elf commented and she turned slightly to look at her over her shoulder, unsure what would be thought of as more rude when she answered.  
  
"I set off as soon as the weather allowed and as soon as we received word that I would be acceptable."  
  
She received only a small hum of approval but she guessed it meant they were glad that she knew her place. They spoke their own tongue quickly at the gates with the other guards and she realised they had probably stationed them there for her benefit though the speed at which they spoke and the low tones they used meant that most of the words were lost. They merely waved for her to move and she did, finding herself surrounded as they moved through the streets. She could feel the eyes of every passing person on her and her flesh began to crawl but she wouldn't let them see the power they held over her. It was early still and winter but where Jormsen was full of children racing around from one task to the next or having a rare moment to play, she saw none. Everyone looked to be grown, at least from their height and it seemed so wrong to have a city like this with buildings of snow and a bustling market in the square and children who probably didn't _have_ to help out wherever they were needed without laughter and shrieking and little bodies clattering around and getting underfoot. All too soon though her mind was elsewhere when she risked craning her neck a little more to get a better look at the grand buildings, so many of them topped with tiled rooftops that reflected the sun's light and threatened to blind her if she stared for too long. Cobblestones beneath her feet, cleared of snow, neat lines to allow the elven citizens access to their homes without having to dampen their skirts, trousers or cloaks, something that never happened in Jormsen where the snow was left to lie where it fell unless it was in their gardens or tiny fields. Her eyes met those of a human, an old man dressed warmly at least but in clothes that were undeniably old, foot wraps instead of boots on his feet, his face red from cold. He held a shovel in his gnarled hands and she looked away quickly, swallowing a sound in her throat. Around his throat sat a collar and she'd spied shackles at his wrists. A slave. An elf had followed her gaze and through the sudden sting of tears she wouldn't allow to fall she was sure she saw a sliver of a smile on their smooth face. In her village he might have been an elder but though he looked old, she doubted he was truly as wizened as he appeared, a life of hard labour and servitude likely having done more to age him than the passage of time. Shackles but no chains and she wondered if he had been captured or born to such a life. A wordless anger and grief clawed at her throat but what could she do? She would die if she attacked and she was a grown woman who knew exactly what the elves would do to her, to her people and to the slaves if she tried anything.  
  
Over four hundred years ago they had allied with the dwarves to wipe out the dragons and push humans and nymphs to the brink of extinction, she had no doubt that they were the kind who enjoyed any sort of excuse to punish those they thought of as beneath them.  
  
"This is your first time in a city, isn't it human?" Another elf asked and she almost remained silent before remembering what she'd been told before she entered the city.  
  
"It is," she managed, her voice soft and small.  
  
"Tishlen is the jewel of the north," the elf continued, gesturing around them and she could feel a change in the mood of the group as her stomach sank as though there was a stone in her belly. "But of course we have to recognise the contributions of your people in making our kingdom what it is today, as you can see."  
  
They pointed and she followed their gaze to an area of the market square they were walking through, the crowd not bothering to turn and look at them as everyone else in the street had. A long wooden podium stood in the centre and she squinted at it, unable to stop herself from retching when she realised what was going on. Humans stood in chains, paraded back and forth like wild animals before a crowd that shouted and raised hands, asking questions as the elf on the podium called out to them. Most of the guards laughed and as she swallowed again and wiped away the tears she hadn't been able to prevent from falling. She kept her head down as they walked, hoping the words would wash over her but they stung and she remembered that little girl who had cowered in a room rank with fear with all the other children and how easily she might have ended up on that block with all the rest, resignation aging her and extinguishing all the fight from her. She could imagine few worse things than giving up. She'd had to prove herself to be worthy of the honour of being a Dragon Knight whether these elves recognised that or not, always having to try her best at even the most trivial or dull tasks so that they would see that she always strove to be the very best she could be and that the training would not be wasted on her. _I am a Dragon Knight_ , she wanted to shout, _I am of the same order who killed so many of your people that we might have stood a chance in the war._  
  
It had been the dwarves who had felled more Dragon Knights than elves with their foul poisons and as little as she knew of elves, she knew even less of what the dwarves got up to.  
  
After what felt like an eternity, they began their ascent up a hill, past two more gates even more elaborate than the first and the group stopped to change guards, the first who had laughed at her reaction to seeing the slave auction returning back the way they had come, still laughing. Her hands clenched into fists hard enough to leave deep crescents in her palms as one of the elves at the gates sighed and shook their head, muttering under their breath.  
  
"See to it that they are suitably reprimanded," a woman's voice this time, "of the behaviour expected of a guard. I will not have them behaving like the common rabble and shaming all of us." Tanis almost jerked in surprise, unable to hide the confusion on her face as the guard sighed again. "You are here with a royal summons and a guest of our kingdom. They know what is expected of them no matter who they are to escort."  
  
It was not an apology but she inclined her head all the same to the elf, composing herself anew. "Gratitude," she murmured softly and the elf smiled kindly at her. She could finally look at these guards properly now, clad in armour and leather, the leather pale as fresh snow and the metal of their armour shockingly white to her eyes, decorated with intricate filigree of a griffin upon the front, raised above the rest of their breastplate, the rest a mixture of ice crystals and snowflakes. How many hours had it taken to etch that level of detail into even one of these breastplates she wondered. They even wore helms, for show only given that the face was exposed save the long strip down the middle that shielded the nose, with long trailing plumes of blue that matched their coats, the colour of Tishlen's royal standard. As one they turned and Tanis followed, this time being ushered to fall in step with what she could only assume to be the captain of these guards and perhaps of all Tishlen, just about matching the elven woman's strides.  
  
"Perhaps it is not my place to tell you this but her young majesty is excited to meet you," the elf said, startling Tanis.  
  
"Truly?" It seemed impossible that an elf would ever be excited about the arrival of a human unless they were a new slave and her worries from the road were still so fresh in her mind that her stomach began churning yet again. She was glad she hadn't eaten breakfast this morning because she didn't relish having to struggle to keep it down.  
  
"Her first time away from the palace without a retinue of guards with her on an errand of her own choosing?"  
  
"Her first time away alone?" Tanis echoed, brow furrowing.  
  
"It is not your first time so far from your home either?" The guard asked, pausing and Tanis shook her head, confused.  
  
"I have been into the forests as far as the border with Borea and up to near the peak of Dragetro," she explained, "sometimes with others but often alone to patrol."  
  
"But you are so young!" The horror in the guard's voice was almost comical and a quick glance confirmed that the others seemed to share her sentiments.  
  
She hadn't planned to have a civil conversation so quickly but it was welcome enough to take her mind from the first guards and what was to come. "By the reckoning of my people I've been a grown woman for a long time. I know my elders consider me to be of an age with her majesty but it has been almost half my life ago since I was thought of as a child too young to go anywhere alone."  
  
"Incredible," the guard murmured and Tanis hid her surprised smile, exchanging it for awe as she looked around at last.  
  
The royal gardens were similarly clear of snow as the streets, dark green grass with artificial ponds on either side of the pathway they were walking along. Small wooden and stone benches surrounded them and she supposed that in fairer weather they probably sat by the ponds but at the moment, they were covered in a thick layer of ice. Most of the trees sat bare, their branches covered in snow except for the dark spruces, wearing little caps of it instead, all planted in neat lines. There were statues too, elven warriors perhaps carved of marble or something else she wasn't close enough to recognise, holding aloft swords, twin daggers and bows; unlike the few statues in Jormsen not of dragons, their warriors were not carved in solemn poses but rather they seemed as if they could come alive and fight once again. And where Jormsen had dragons, Tishlen had griffins. The base of every statue bore a silver plaque with an engraving and she realised that at least as far as the griffins were concerned, they were fallen warriors, either in battle or from old age, commissioned by someone from House Aenvi at one time or another. High stone walls surrounded the palace proper but she could see enough if she tipped her head back. The palace itself was built of stone that looked white except where the light hit, turning the stone a buttery yellow with high spires topped in dark tiles that narrowed into peaks, gold decorations at the very top. There looked to be four towers at each corner with smaller towers along the walls for the guards and a central tower, higher than all the rest, at the very centre. The guards on the other side of the wall raised the heavy metal portcullis for them and they made their way through, stopping to allow Tanis her first unimpeded view of the castle and the royal courtyard. It seemed simple enough compared to the Fangs that bore veins of ore and many different rocks from where it had been carved but there were high windows all around and she could only imagine how bright it must be in the palace compared to the Fangs that were dark unless you were housed at the front of the building. Ornaments she couldn't make out the true details of but certainly intricate if the armour the guards wore was any indication, especially around the balconies and this had to be elven work or maybe dwarven, from back before the war, ancient but maintained well enough to look as old and wise as a building could look. The private gardens housed more benches and one of the elves behind her pointed to the wall that rose high in the south to where the griffins were housed.  
  
"I'm sure her majesty will show you around or have someone else do so before you depart, it would be a shame for you not to see this place," the guard – Tanis didn't know if asking the woman's name was polite or impolite and besides, she didn't want to be mistaken for holding any possibly friendly feelings for these elves – continued, looking around with a satisfied smile.  
  
"A human would be allowed to explore?"  
  
"Not without supervision of course but that summons has given you the rights of a guest and guests are permitted to wander the palace and the grounds as they will." It went without saying that the superior senses of the elves would stop her from attempting anything and she had the feeling that the archers on the walls were the very best in all the north, ready and waiting to fill her full of arrows the second they had even an inkling of a reason to do so. "You have a palace in Jormsen, yes?"  
  
She nodded, swallowing tightly as she thought of close yet far the Fangs were. "Carved into the mountain itself, it's hard to think of it as a palace though..." She trailed off, unsure if it was wise to continue and the elf seemed to understand and they continued to the steps leading to the palace proper in silence, their boots quiet on the marble as they passed slender colonnades with delicate winter blossoms wrapped around them, petals red as blood at the edges. The berries usually went into wine in Jormsen where they were grown for that purpose alone and not simply because they looked pretty. Only one of the guards went with her when they entered the palace, the rest hanging back to wait for their captain who placed one hand at the small of Tanis' back to usher her forwards, apologising when it caused her to jump in alarm.  
  
She didn't think an elf would ever apologise to a human, not even the sort of apology that was more borne of force of habit than any sincerity but it was welcome after the morning she had suffered already.  
  
"Wait here please, I'll make sure they know you've arrived," the elf said and Tanis was left alone before she could finish saying yes, turning in a slow circle as she tipped her head up to take it all in. It was very grand of course, not the muted tones of Jormsen at all that felt like stepping into a tomb but brilliant white and blue, delicate patterns picked out by mosaics made up of tiny tiles. The floor beneath her was smooth marble that had to have come from the south, silver waves running through it and the standard of Tishlen hung on the walls. Tall, slender windows let in the light, the bars across them casting odd shadows on the floor and it was only then that she realised the torches were unlit. The Fangs were so dark, like eternal night unless you were housed at the very front of the building and most buildings had few windows, instead relying more on the large fire pits they had to provide light. A shiver ran down her spine as she dared to wander from her designated spot, her legs starting to protest as she shifted her weight from one to the other, peering past a column to where an embroidered coronet was picked out in silver upon a huge expanse of mulberry cloth. She'd never seen something like that so close and it was sorely tempting to forget herself and wander closer to see how the elven royalty lived and wonder if her people had ever had such fine things or if minimal decoration was something natural to them rather than a result of having to scrape by as best they could and hope that one day things would be better. One day was never defined exactly, it just always happened to never be the day you happened to live and she privately thought that they had always said that since the survivors had huddled together and wondered what they were to do next.  
  
Her back and shoulders were beginning to cramp as well by the time the elf came back, beckoning her to follow her up a wide spiralling staircase that had to be the central tower she had seen from outside and the weight of her pack had never seemed so heavy. At last they stopped at a room where another elf waited, clad in a simple tunic who stared at Tanis openly even as they opened the door for her to step inside. The room was bright, two high barred windows on the wall offering her a view of the mountains and the fire was lit to keep away the chill rather than to offer light.  
  
"You may leave your things here," the other elf said with a curt nod. "You will be collected when their majesties are ready to receive you. In the meantime I suggest you take a moment to make yourself presentable."  
  
The door closed quietly before she could say a word and she bit her tongue so as to stifle any curse she wanted to voice. She set her pack down carefully though, glad to be rid of the weight after so long and she stretched her arms high above her head and arched her back until it popped and her shoulders and elbows cracked. Next she removed her breastplate, then her boots, wriggling her toes before she sat on the bed to massage her tired feet, marvelling at how soft the mattress beneath her was. The frame was carved of dark wood, no particular design but it was pretty enough she supposed though she would miss having furs to sleep under, the bed covered with woven blankets instead. Padding quietly across the room she retrieved a basin of water and cloth that had been left for her along with soap and a mirror and undressed quickly after heating the water with her magic. Enough bathing in cold water now she was indoors even if was only with a little bowl of it and not a proper bath. Did the elves have anything like the baths at the base of the Fangs? She'd probably have to request a bath, not relishing the prospect of having to undress in front of all of them. Her stomach growled as she dragged the cloth across the back of her neck and she remembered how long it had been since she'd last eaten and whether it was worth risking a mouthful of her dried rations before the audience. After she finished making sure she was presentable, she decided, leaving the dirty items she'd worn beneath her armour draped over the edge of the bed. She didn't know how long her stay would be now and it _was_ her room and she'd been told to leave her things so she changed her shirt and socks and underthings, settling her charms securely about her throat as she untied and smoothed her hair so she looked less like someone who'd spent a week scraping it back out of her face and yanking out the worst of the tangles with her fingers every morning. It would snag on something if she left it unbound and the urge to play with it would be too seductive when she needed something to do to channel the nervous energy already thrumming through her so she busied herself with fashioning a fishtail braid that hung over her left shoulder when she was done. Elves favoured braids, it might curry some small amount of goodwill to appear in such a manner. All that was left was to polish her breastplate as best she could and wipe any spots of dirt from her trousers and boots and she was dressed once more, as ready as she would ever be to be received by the rulers of House Aenvi. It was only a matter of what to do with her weapons that had her floundering when three sharp raps at the door made her jump.  
  
"Are you presentable?" The voice of the attendant called out, sounding bored already, probably resenting having to be the one dealing with some up-jumped human.  
  
"Yes, come in!" She answered quickly, still holding her sword belt in her hands. "Might I ask what I should do with my weapons? I was not informed of the proper protocol for this, my apologies." It burned to have to apologise already when she had done nothing more than simply speak without having been spoken to first but it had been drilled into her since she had been young that to cause offence to an elf was to invite trouble and pain for not oneself but for all of them because you belonged to your people and were always we before I.  
  
"If you are a knight then you are allowed to wear the weapons you would carry into battle no matter who you are. If you are ready?"  
  
She nodded, securing the belt quickly, wanting to be rid of this elf and their sour look as soon as she was able. The guard who had escorted her looked her over once and gave a brief smile, taking their leave of the attendant to head back down the stairs and through a long corridor, footsteps echoing. More guards were posted along either side and her stomach clenched painfully.  
  
"Nervous?" The elf asked and she nodded, unable to get a word out. "It's been a long time since we had a Dragon Knight here as a guest, everyone wants a chance to see you?"  
  
"Everyone?" She hated the way her voice came out as a squeak.  
  
"The court of course, others in the palace, those who managed to get a seat, there are plenty of common folk in there too." The guard smiled again, setting a slender hand on her shoulder. "Just nod and answer in the right place, you've done that before?"  
  
"Y-yes," she forced out, wishing she could go back, that she'd refused when her elders had asked this of her, that she'd run instead of coming here, that she'd done virtually anything else but it was too late now, she was going to walk through those doors and she was going to be seen by everyone and she had made this choice. She had to live with it now and see it through, there was no other way.  
  
"Good luck," the guard whispered and then the doors were opening and one of the elves at the doors touched her arm so she would stay in place as the guard headed into the hall before her to take her place amongst a different group of guards lined in a half-circle around the royal family. The hand was removed from her arm at the same time as two elves with trumpets began a fanfare and she began to walk forward. Every eye in the room was on her, people in their finest clothes gawking at her, a hushed murmur spreading through the gathered crowd. She kept her eyes level with the podium, sure she might trip and embarrass herself, one hand wrapped tight around the hilt of her sword for some sense of security until at last she stood before them and bent her knee.


	3. Chapter 3

The crowd fell quiet as the king and queen stood and she glanced up, counting those assembled. Three elven men in addition to the king, all of them with dark hair worn long, in a mix of armour and plush robes lined with white fur, their wives stood next to them in shimmering gowns. The king's hair was grey and it was clear to see his sons favoured him, with long aquiline noses and a strong jaw line, their features heavier than the queen with her hair still gold but beginning to show streaks of silver beneath her crown. As the king continued a long and rambling introduction her knee and shin began to ache and so she looked further for the princess and her breath caught in her throat. She had the queen's more delicate features; a narrow chin, an upturned nose, full lips and high cheekbones, her hair falling in loose waves over her shoulders and big wide eyes. Wide eyes staring intently back at Tanis who dropped her gaze and hoped no one could see her blush from her position kneeling before them.  
  
"And so," the king continued, she wondered how long had passed with her not paying attention but clearly it had not required any input on her part until now when the king beckoned for her to stand, "I present to you all Tanis of Jormsen, entrusted with the safety of her royal majesty, our beloved daughter Ilea. Do you swear upon your sword and before us all to defend her majesty?" He asked, his voice ringing out for all the hall to hear.  
  
"I do."  
  
"And do you swear to serve with valour and faith?"  
  
"I do."  
  
"To obey those in authority above you?"  
  
"I do," she replied yet again, the words almost choking her.  
  
"To speak the truth, to see all deeds to their end and to rise to all challenges?"  
  
"I do."  
  
"And finally to never turn your back upon a foe?"  
  
"I swear it," she concluded and bowed deeply, closing her eyes to keep the tears at bay as her heart threatened to burst through her ribs. "I swear before all assembled that her majesty, princess Ilea of House Aenvi," she willed herself to be strong and see it through, that there was no other choice, not now, "daughter of the rightful rulers of the north will come to no harm. I will be her sword and her shield, I will guard her with my life as is right and will give it gladly that she might live."  
  
A cheer erupted through the hall, the royals smiling down at her as she wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. The queen descended the steps leading up to the podium, taking one of Tanis' hands in hers, the palms soft as a child's might be. The king took her over hand and together they raised them high to even greater applause until her arms started to tremble until the leaving procession, a murmur from the queen instructing her to wait and follow after Ilea. The queen linked arms with her king, each wife did the same with the sons and there was a mounting feeling of dread as Ilea drifted closer in her dress of silk so fine Tanis was sure she could see through it. She offered her arm to the princess mechanically and was glad she wore her armour so the goose bumps couldn't be seen. Ilea's bare arms did not afford her such a luxury and this close Tanis could see a faint flush upon her cheeks. As she had done upon entering, she kept her eyes straight ahead as she followed the brother in front of her to wherever they were going, taking a left then a right and up a flight of stairs and into a solar where foods had been laid out. Her stomach growled again and it was her turn to blush, Ilea laughing quietly. It was odd, being arm in arm with someone she hadn't even exchanged a single word with and the last time she'd done this she'd been heading back to the village with a young healer's apprentice who'd needed an escort while she went gathering herbs deep in the forest. Of course they'd flirted and laughed and had ended up staggering back far later than expected and one final kiss. That was nothing like this and she kept her eyes averted until they reached the table where there were human servants waiting to show them to their seats. The king of course sat at the head of the table, his wife to his right, his eldest son to his left, his wife next to him but there were two seats vacant by the queen and Ilea was the one to lead Tanis to them. She sat before Tanis could attempt to pull out her chair for her, smiling at her mother. One of the slaves, a slender young woman with red hair poured wine for both of them and retreated quickly but not before she gave Tanis a curious look. Maybe she'd never seen a free human and certainly had never served one that dined with elven royalty, permitted to wear armour and carry weapons.  
  
She was glad when the king raised his glass in a toast.  
  
"To our new friend here and the success of Ilea's venture!"  
  
Numbly, Tanis clinked glasses with Ilea and then with the brother across from her, taking a small sip, mindful of her empty stomach. The wine was incredibly sweet compared to what she was used to in Jormsen where they preferred it spiced rather than honeyed. She preferred meads and ales herself but she saw none, only tall carafes of glass and silver clutched by slaves filled with wine, pale gold or red as blood. Unlike the heavy stews or meat turned on a spit and served with roasted vegetables at home, slender cuts of meat cooked rare were piled on her plate along with vegetables drizzled with honey and sprinkled with rosemary, a generous helping of berry sauce on the side. She ate carefully, even though hunger gnawed at her, mindful of her manners because she had no desire to be seen of as some sort of barbarian by them. Like the wine, the food was almost horribly sweet and lacking in the seasonings she knew so well but the meat melted in her mouth unlike the rations in her pack that were tough as old boiled leather and hurt your jaw to chew. Most of the meal passed in silence and as odd as it was compared to the constant noise she was accustomed to it still meant there was less chance she embarrassed herself or did something untoward but towards the end, Ilea's mother leaned across her daughter, clearing her throat.  
  
"We are entrusting you with something very precious to us." Her voice was so soft she had to strain her ears to hear her, having to lean awkwardly close to Ilea who muttered the word 'mother' under her breath with some annoyance. "Ilea is our only daughter, our youngest."  
  
"Our longed for daughter," the king added and when Tanis looked up his smile was proud but his eyes sad and she looked over to his other children, all old enough to be married and yet there were no children and the king and queen were no longer young and probably hadn't even been young back when the war had been fought if they had grey in their hair. Ilea was only, she almost scoffed at the thought, ninety-eight, never having left the borders of Tishlen without an escort. She had seen no children in the streets, no children at the ceremony and the only children at this table were all grown past being called such.  
  
"I swear I will keep her safe, your majesties," she replied, voice barely above a whisper and she was sure she caught the glimmer of a tear in the queen's eye before she turned away and squeezed her husband's hand. No one dared to speak, finishing the meal in silence until the slaves came to remove the plates and refill glasses, Tanis taking a chance to sip water. Wine so sweet would go to her head all too quickly and her nervous energy was fading away, exhaustion starting to creep in, a different sort to what she was used to. She'd never had to deal with being on her toes like this, even when she'd been seventeen, and it was easier to force yourself to stay upright when you knew that all you had to do was parry and thrust, conserve your strength and grit your teeth when the pain made you want to howl. The silence swelled until it seemed to fill every corner of the room as they waited between courses until at last Ilea cleared her throat and turned to fix Tanis with a smile.  
  
"Tell us about yourself, we received the missive from your elders but all the same, I'd like to hear it from you." It was the first time she'd heard Ilea speak, her voice high and warm, almost friendly and Tanis wondered if she was more drunk than she'd thought. "Hearing it one more time from the horse's mouth as it were might help to calm my parents who forget that I am no longer a little girl."  
  
"You'll always be a little girl," one of the brothers, the eldest Tanis had to assume from where he sat in relation to the king, muttered with a smirk, Ilea rolling her eyes.  
  
"There is little to tell," she managed after another quick sip of water, tongue feeling clumsy in her mouth as she reminded herself she could not slip into her native tongue. "I am a knight, trained in many of the same weapons as knights and guards here I would imagine. I favour a one-handed sword or dagger."  
  
"No shield?" The middle brother interrupted to ask.  
  
"A shield can be useful but I prefer to have a hand free for using magic."  
  
The faces at the table darkened, all except for Ilea who looked almost excited. "What sort of magic?"  
  
"I am versed in many forms of magic as is expected of a knight," she began carefully, trying and failing not to squirm, "but I prefer elemental magic."  
  
"I had wondered at the difference." One of the wives, one with golden hair even lighter than the queen's and dark brown skin said with a curious look. "How many types of magic are there?"  
  
"Many, everyone has different names they prefer, their own definitions and distinctions but elemental, restoration and arcane are the ones I prefer."  
  
"Healing then?" At her nod, everyone at the table seemed to relax and she didn't have the heart to tell them that her healing magic was not nearly as strong as her elemental magic, not a healer in truth but she could manage.  
  
"I know my herbalism too," she added, "like everyone in Jormsen I can make a potion or poultice from almost anything in the wild."  
Ilea was the one to speak next, swirling the wine in her glass as she did so. "So arcane then? Elemental must be ice, fire, lightning and the ground itself, not plants or water, those are for the nymphs, correct?"  
  
Again Tanis nodded, the distinctions clear for those with magic but she'd wondered sometimes how odd they might be to those without. "Arcane and restoration are close really; where restoration is the manipulation of life energy to heal, arcane is used in battle. To draw the life energy from a foe to weaken them," to kill them if you're good at it but Tanis was not and she wasn't stupid enough to say something like that in front of the elves, "or to send your own as an attack at someone. You can use it to give yourself or an ally strength."  
  
"I can see how that would be useful in battle indeed," the eldest brother murmured and a shiver ran down her spine.  
  
The elves were good enough at war against magic when they were so vulnerable to it to best dragons, Dragon Knights and every other human and nymph who fought.  
  
"See? Nothing for any of you to worry about. Between the two of us we'll be _fine_ ," Ilea insisted and she sounded sullen and almost petty. Her parents sighed, her brothers and their wives laughed and this must be what family life was like, Tanis supposed, glad for the interruption of dessert being brought. It was much more simple than the main meal, pears drizzled with a sauce of winter berries but it was the first thing that hadn't tasted too sweet, the berries tart and the pear just ripe and no more. The fare on the whole was likely more simple because it was still winter still and she was glad of it because her stomach wouldn't be able to handle the sort of banquets some of the other knights teased her about before she left. The slaves stared at her each and every time they approached and she did her best to thank them in a gentle whisper, unsure if she was even allowed to but they were still her people, she didn't want to look as though she was trying to pretend she was better than them or, even worse, different because she didn't wear shackles that they could see. Each and every human was bound to elven will except the bandits and nomads perhaps but she had always felt that even then, their lives were not what they would have been had the war not been lost and elven will pressed upon them all.  
  
"Alas, we must all return to our duties," the king said when the table was cleared, rising to his feet along with his wife and eldest son. "I thank you for the delightful conversation, I am sure we all consider ourselves more informed but as you were so good as to arrive as early as you could, it would make all the more sense for both of you to ready yourselves to depart as quickly as possible."  
  
"Take her on a tour of the gardens and palace and tell her of your plan," the queen urged, brushing Ilea's hair behind her ear as she paused, the other members of the family filing out and Tanis doubted she'd be wrong to guess there was any other topic of conversation but her. "It will give her time to avail herself of the library if needed."  
  
Panic seized her by the throat because she wasn't ready to be alone with this young elf who controlled her destiny for now and likely knew it but at the same time she was relieved to be free of much of the level of scrutiny she felt at the table where no one was outwardly unkind but there were still slaves and Jormsen must still dance to the whims of Tishlen. She didn't know which one felt worse and maybe she never would.  
  
"Shall we?" Ilea asked, on her feet as well and Tanis nodded, following her quickly so they could walk in step together. "My parents have never had a human guest such as yourself during my life, unless I was very small and not allowed to sit at the royal table."  
  
"I see," Tanis muttered because she remembered what the first guard she met told her and realised that she preferred the company of the captain who escorted her to the palace to this.  
  
"Forgive them for being overprotective, I try to, the only daughter and youngest child, I can understand why a parent would be worried. Were yours?"  
  
"It is not my mother's place to worry or to tell me her worries and I have never met my father." The only similarity in attitudes between elves and humans were always that you took pleasure where you found it and that any children born of any union were thought of equally, even among the royals. It was more the first part that would stump Ilea and it must have done just that because she furrowed her brow.  
  
"Not her place? Surely a mother must worry."  
  
"My mother is a healer, she is not a Dragon Knight," Tanis explained as patiently as she could, following Ilea to wherever they were headed. "A Dragon Knight belongs to their people and the people understand why we do what we must."  
  
"Dragon Knights are different to a normal knight?"  
  
"We do not have knights such as you have, you still have tourneys?" Ilea nodded and maybe it wasn't such a waste of her time after all to sit and brush up on elven culture before she left even if there were plenty of other things she wanted to do and she wouldn't be telling the elders that, she couldn't stand their smug superior smiles. "A Dragon Knight is a relic of a title but it means something to us still. We are the first to defend our home against the wild beasts and any bandits that might set upon us, others learn to fight but they are more like civilian soldiers, it is not expected of them the way it is expected of us."  
  
"You are the very best, we were assured."  
  
She didn't want to blush but praise was a rare thing indeed when doing your very best was expected of you from the start and not something to be crowed over. "I did admirably in my training and do so in my duties now. The elders felt I fit the requirements dictated in the missive best."  
  
"Is this a human thing?" Ilea asked, stopping so she could turn slightly and block Tanis' path. "Not accepting praise? Always deflecting?"  
  
"I..." She floundered because it was their way in Jormsen and the elves made it so and it twisted and writhed in her belly, a hot angry knot.  
  
"I'm _teasing_ ," Ilea gasped in a whisper that turned into a laugh, taking Tanis by the hand to tug her along and her grip was stronger than she imagined, calluses on her fingers.  "They said you were a grim lot up there in the shadow of the mountain but I hardly expected this."  
  
Tanis had no choice but to be towed along by the princess, relieved at least that they seemed to be headed outside where anyone passing by would mistake her flush for a reaction to the cold. The palace had been warmer than expected for somewhere with so many windows and the wine had only amplified that, enough so that the sting of the wind was welcome. Ilea barely even shivered in her thin gown but all northerners were built for the cold in the end, she likely didn't feel much of it at all as she took a deep breath, indicating a stone bench where they might sit. It was clear of snow like the ground beneath it and a quick glance up confirmed that they were under an overhang that sheltered them from the snow and instead long icicles hung from it, glittering in the watery winter sun. Across from them sat several targets, dummies stuffed with straw, wooden boards supporting round targets, a few others high on the walls themselves or hanging from poles, all with arrows in the centre or close to it. The private archery range then and she wondered if this was where Ilea practiced in preparation for their journey that she still knew nothing about. Ilea smoothed out her skirts, rubbing her arms and it was instinct that had Tanis removing her cloak to offer it – she'd done the same with whoever needed escorting in the forests, their fingers brushing as she helped to secure it around her. Hopefully it wouldn't be seen as too presumptuous but it seemed better than letting her sit there in such a flimsy looking dress.  
  
"Gratitude, I would rather have worn leathers but my parents insisted that protocol dictated I wear this, I haven't done enough to be allowed to dress as you would at formal events and ceremonies."  
  
"I take it the journey I'm accompanying you will earn you that right?"  
  
"No, not really, it's more a matter of age, I'm not even a hundred yet, a woman but still able to be called a girl?" She looked to Tanis for confirmation that it wasn't just an elven condition and she nodded, remembering similar experiences, strangely glad her life passed so much quicker because the thought of such a time extending out indefinitely sounded unbearable. "You haven't asked what our journey will entail yet."  
  
"It is not my place to ask anything of you, your majesty."  
  
" _Ilea_ ," she corrected firmly, but gently. "It's Ilea, when it's just you and I."  
  
She nodded even if she had no plans to call her any such thing, unwilling to be on first name terms with a princess and remembering that she was _always_ to be polite to the elves, unfailingly so, especially when she didn't want to be. "I was instructed to accompany you and to keep you safe from harm so that you would find success in your venture. You are of House Aenvi, rightful rulers of the north, it is my place as a subject and vassal."  
  
"You know I don't require you to be so formal, I would prefer it if you speak plainly," Ilea muttered, drawing the borrowed cloak tighter about herself.  
_You wouldn't if you really heard me speak plainly_ , Tanis thought savagely, offering a half-smile instead. "Tell me then, now that I'm here and we seem set on departing as soon as possible."  
  
"The elven-dwarven alliance was never a formal one exactly, there were few written documents and it was more a marriage of convenience and opportunity, I wouldn't even go so far as to call it friendly, truth be told." Fixing her gaze upon the targets, Ilea fiddled with an edge of the cloak as she recounted a history Tanis knew well enough. "When the war ended, the dwarves went back to their empire quickly with whatever they had taken as their own – I know that the negotiations for such things were said to be some very nasty business – but there would be a messenger twice a year at first for many, many years and then after that it dropped to once a year, then once every two, then five, then ten. Sometimes decades would pass with no entrance granted to the elven envoys by the dwarves."  
  
"The dwarves did not visit your kingdoms?" Tanis asked, more than a little surprised. Dwarves had been the ones to start the war in earnest, at least that was what she had learned and it had been their alliance with the elves that had managed to turn it in their favour, but dwarves were not a particular problem and she knew even less of them – cave rats, her people called them – than she did elves.  
  
"A few times, I asked as many as I could who remembered such instances, not just in the years of and directly following the war but before, back when humans and sometimes even nymphs were part of delegations but they only occurred at the entrance points that were built." The princess frowned, ceasing to fidget as she set her hands in her lap allowing Tanis a moment to think.  
  
The war had been fought on two fronts in the earliest days. It had begun, as well as her people had been able to tell, with the theft of dragon eggs. It had been a whole clutch stolen from the peak of Dragetro where only Solace made her nest. The theft had been abhorrent for several reasons and even now no one knew what part of it was worse; the theft itself that was unheard of at the time, the eggs had belonged to the high priestess of all the dragons and climbing so high on Dragetro was thought to be impossible. Dragon Knights had been stationed to guard other clutches of eggs all of Stjarnacado because while losses to wild beasts happened it was only ever an egg or two and the dragons understood that and accepted it. But whole clutches lost, some smashed to bits, that was unthinkable. The raids had continued and that had been when the deaths of Dragon Knights had been reported, felled by powerful poisons by unseen foes. They knew now that it had been the elves with darts covered in poisons provided by the dwarves. The dwarves were great smiths but they had learned their craft themselves instead of how humanity had come by it, asking Ferrum, the great dragon of the forge to teach them his secrets. The elves had desired power, afraid at how quickly humans would spread even with their far shorter lives because magic and an alliance with the dragons had allowed them to build so quickly and found four kingdoms, Jormsen in the north being the first and oldest, Bevislang in the south, Kokenavg to the east and Drageskjold in the west. The wood nymphs had come to the humans with concerns of their forests being chopped down and burned, the water nymphs with stories of how the waters were being poisoned. So the elves and dwarves had weakened them all before they had declared open war at last by inviting all human rulers and nobility to Rella Regnai, the elven kingdom in the west. It had been a massacre, a scattered leadership. Her people had held out admirably but the elves rode their griffins into battle with poisoned arrows and even full grown dragons were killed. The choice in the end, when everyone who could retreated to Jormsen was surrender or die. The dwarves took what they wanted, the elves ruled over Stjarnacado, humanity almost wiped out and the dragons all gone, dead so the elves claimed and so it had been for over four hundred years now. Many of the nymphs had given themselves back to nature and there were vast swathes of forests where they had taken root long before their time and not only had lakes and rivers swelled but even more had been created by the water nymphs, ponds found in places they had never existed in before. Tear forests and tear rivers they were called by her people, you paid your respects by them and nothing more. Nymphs were shy now and secretive and Tanis was one of the only people in Jormsen who saw them regularly from her deep patrols where the wood nymphs of Borea counted her as a rare friend.  
  
Dwarves had never been a concern in Jormsen built so high in the mountains and perhaps that was a mistake. Where the elves could attack from the air and be seen, who knew what the dwarves got up to in the bowels of the world.  
  
Sensing that Tanis had had enough time to formulate her thoughts, Ilea at last continued. "We have felt quakes here and in our outlying territories in the north. When have there ever been earthquakes in the north? Or elsewhere for that matter?"  
  
"You think the dwarves are responsible?"  
  
"I can think of little else and it has been a long, _long_ time since we last heard from them."  
  
"You plan to travel to one of the outposts then?"  
  
"No." Ilea turned to face her, determination in her eyes. "I plan to head to the main gates of the dwarven empire in the north and enter by one means or another and see with my own eyes what they are up to."  
  
It was suicide, no wonder her family had seemed so concerned but even though the Dragon Knights and dragons themselves had all succumbed to the poisons the dwarves had created, some had survived for a time. Tanis was to stand between Ilea and such a poison should it come to it. Ilea could flee and the elves would probably take it as an act of war and would try to fight them even if they had to crack open the earth to do so. "Why just the two of us?"  
  
"It will alarm far fewer if only you and I go, a whole unit of guards accompanying me? You would likely have more resistance to poison than I would. Dwarves are vulnerable to magic too, not as much as an elf but enough."  
  
"You could have asked for more of us."  
  
"I'll hardly prove myself with a bunch of humans in armour with magic around and one elf alone in the wilds with more than one human..."  
  
It would have been tempting if it didn't spell doom for Jormsen. If she harmed Ilea or even let her come to harm then even if she ran and hid amongst the nomads and stayed beyond the reach of the elves, Jormsen would still pay. They would burn it to the ground and either execute them all or make them slaves.  
  
"What about the other kingdoms?"  
  
"Vaile never replies to any letters, I doubt they even get them but they're all a bit mad out there." Tanis had to agree with her – people who went east seldom came back and it plunged straight into the sea, enough so that the dwarves were said to have built thick walls that wouldn't break when they unexpectedly tunnelled right through and lost an entire mining party to either the fall or the sea flooding in. "Moja has troubles of their own to deal with and we do not need the aid of Rella Regnai."  
  
It had been too long since the nomads had made their way to Jormsen. Few wished to stay for the winter and it had been so long since she'd last heard news that she wondered what went on in the south but the chance of Ilea telling her seemed slim. "So this is a northern problem?"  
  
"Earthquakes aren't common anywhere else from what I've discovered thus far and if there were problems in Rella Regnai they would never say, they wouldn't want to lose face by admitting it even if the kingdom burned around them."  
  
She held in a sigh. Spare her from the nonsense that was elven politics. "Then it will be you and I in the wilds. If you are agreeable we should find a map and plan a route unless you have one in mind?"  
  
"No, I get to leave with guards or the family, I thought it better to leave that to someone like you who knows these things best. Come, I have a private study, we can plan there."  
  
Once more she followed Ilea, through a winding maze of columns, up, up, up the stairs to a series of chambers that had to take up the whole of the tower that were Ilea's alone, the view even better than the one from the room Tanis had been given for the duration of her stay. They bypassed her bedchamber for the study, a roughly hewn table with a great sprawling map pinned to it, several bows and quivers lifted, stray arrows gathered up as Tanis planned a route aloud. Daggers marked out key points, a length of twine wrapped around the hilt as she answered each and every question with all the patience she could muster. At last, when the sun had dipped low in the sky and they had been checked in on by several attendants ostensibly to make sure Tanis hadn't somehow managed to cut Ilea's throat and escape or that nothing untoward was going on, they had a plan together, at least for getting there and assuming all the paths were favourable. Tanis knew more than enough to be able to change plans as needed and it was decided that night that they would depart in three days. She opted to at last have dinner alone, a simple soup brought to her room where she found that her clothes had been washed, several books and maps left for her. She sat on the floor to eat, cross-legged in front of the fire to pretend it was home and it was only when she'd made notes of her own for the journey in her diary and had crawled into bed that she realised that Ilea had still been wrapped in her cloak when she'd left.


	4. Chapter 4

Unlike her departure from Jormsen there was no blessing from the elves when they departed Tishlen at first light after three days that had seemed to drag on forever. She'd been taken on a proper tour of the palace, another of parts of the city, members of the court had quizzed her endlessly until she had such a headache she was sure her skull would split open and she'd even engaged in archery practice with Ilea. The princess had trounced her of course but all who'd watched had seemed impressed and shocked at how well Tanis managed to fare against her. Elves had some hunters to keep themselves fed but it was more a point of pride and seeing a human manage to hold her own without embarrassing themselves must have been something of a novelty for them. She'd told Ilea later that she was a hunter who actually knew what it took to bring down a wild animal – they didn't stay still like a target. There had been a demonstration of her magic too, a very rare sight. Some slaves were trusted enough to display their magic when they were not being used as healers and she didn't want to ask what they did to curb slaves from using their magic against their masters but they'd never seen anything like Tanis could do. Her magical training was among the very best and sticking to ice to appeal to elven vanity, she earned a round of applause and tried to ignore how it made her feel, like some sort of trained animal. She'd wanted to sleep well the night before they departed but Ilea had taken her by the arm to lead her through the gardens at night, their breath fogging the air before them, clambering up a steep flight of steps to where the griffins were housed.  
  
"I wanted to say goodbye to my boy," she explained with a bashful smile and when even she squinted in the dark, Tanis sighed and cupped flames in her palm, catching a hint of wonder in Ilea's eyes. "I thought you should meet him too, it's the longest I'll have been away from him but this is no sort of journey for a griffin."  
  
'He' had turned out to be large, even for a griffin. A black beak and piercing yellow eyes, the feathers slate black on the upper body and white down the chest and along the belly and she couldn't help but notice the long talons of his front feet, strange feathers sticking up at the top of his head. In the eyrie it was hard to tell just how long his black and white striped wings were but given his size, they were sure to be impressive. The back half was covered in fur that looked soft and dense but yielded when Ilea sank her fingers in to scratch him. Soft grey in colour, dappled with darker and lighter spots along to his long thin tail that whipped back and forth with happiness at Ilea making a fuss, cooing at him. Griffins usually observed Tanis from on high when she went through the woods, shrieked and hissed if she came too close to one of their nests but Ilea had grabbed her hand to press a cut of meat into it and had held it out for the griffin to gobble up. After that he had let out a strange hissing sound of happiness and had let her pet him gingerly. She'd gone back to her rooms alone but hadn't been able to resist looking back to see Ilea throwing her arms around the beast, her face pressed to his neck.  
  
_She cares more about a pet than you or any human_ , she told herself when the sight threatened to make her smile. _Just get it over and done with and make sure you do enough to be allowed safe passage home to Jormsen._  
  
An honour guard had escorted them to the city gates, the royal court in attendance and the streets had been lined with elven faces, calling out to Ilea for good luck and safety and she'd even when they'd finally said goodbye, the king weeping silent tears as the queen kissed her daughter's brow with a smile that looked ready to crumble at a moment's notice she'd felt the eyes of a nation on them both as they'd headed back down the road Tanis had started on. She didn't want to have an elf at her back but she was the one who actually knew the land unlike the princess so she marched on ahead with a sigh until she turned to see Ilea standing, looking back at the city they'd left behind. At least Tanis had made it farther than this before she'd started to feel homesick but she turned back, stopping just short of the elf as she wondered what she should do, settling on resting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing. She didn't know what you were meant to say in this sort of situation but she suspected that 'get on with it' wouldn't be appreciated much. That was how it would be in Jormsen after all.  
  
"The sooner we get there, the sooner you'll be back in your palace," she settled on at last. Ilea's expression hardened for a moment but quickly went back to looking far younger than she had any right to look.  
  
"We shouldn't waste the light I suppose," she agreed, not sounding happy about it exactly but this was her duty that she had chosen as Tanis had chosen her role to guard her. "Lead on then."  
  
Tanis was content with silence as they kept off the roads, hugging the edges where the trees were more sheltered from the wind, their hoods up to cover them. Ilea worn light leather armour even on her upper half that Tanis wanted to scoff at, wondering if it was for show or if she truly understood the sort of danger they might be facing on the road. They stopped in the middle of the day to eat, Tanis checking her map and readjusting her pack so it wouldn't dig into her shoulder the way it had been; they'd been given more supplies in Tishlen, mostly extra food and supplies for camping that Tanis doubted they would really need but she hadn't been about to refuse them. A few things she had left back at the palace where they would either be returned when they got back or they'd be sent back to Jormsen, or maybe they'd be disposed of. They didn't matter too much in the grand scheme, just the stupid things you regretted packing when you needed extra space or when they managed to dig into the small of your back no matter what you did. She'd traded her simple hunting bow for a fancier one made of some sort of animal horn and she had to admit that it was beautiful, supple even if the ridges of the horn made it unfamiliar beneath her fingers, the silencers made of white wolf fur. Far better than anything Jormsen would make but they were not a nation of archers and the bow she had carried with her so far had been good enough. She had no plans to try to use a bow in battle but refusal would have been rude and churlish. Stopping to eat and drink improved Ilea's mood enough that she caught up to Tanis instead of lagging behind.  
  
"So-"  
  
"I need you to keep watch," Tanis interrupted quickly, "your senses are sharper than mine."  
  
"I can do that even when we're talking."  
  
"There are wild beasts that would look for an easy meal and there's every chance we might run into bandits."  
  
"As I was saying," Ilea continued as if she hadn't heard a word Tanis said already missed the silence, "I never really understood what it is that makes a Dragon Knight above and beyond any other sort of knight. I did read of course, but you're here, I can ask you in person."  
  
She missed the silence already. It was petty and it was childish but she didn't care. "I already told you when I had dinner with your family."  
  
"You said it was a relic but from what I read it was something more."  
  
"We're the best, the ones who endure the toughest training, we embody our people." There was more to it and she didn't know just how much was recorded in the books and if any of them were from the collections her people had lost so long ago. "We are meant to be our people, all our values, our strengths and all our hopes and dreams." Not that hopes and dreams bought you much in Jormsen but still, she was what she was.  
  
"Is that what it was in the past too?"  
  
"We only have what was written down and we...we lost a lot," she said the words quickly, as though it would lessen the sting, "but the Dragon Knights of old were those who were closest to the dragons, it was a source of great honour and pride and we would pledge ourselves to a particular dragon for stronger magic." She couldn't tell anyone the truth unless they were her people when it was one of the most closely guarded secrets they had managed to keep, the truth of it not even widely known outside of Jormsen for fear of elves hearing of it and destroying one of the last vestiges of who they truly were.  
  
"I've offended you," Ilea's voice was soft, her smile apologetic. "I'm sorry."  
  
"It's fine," Tanis ground out.  
  
"No, if I offend you I'd like it if you told me, I'd like for us to be friends, we're on this road alone."  
  
Tanis stifled a groan. They'd barely left Tishlen and Ilea was not behaving as she had expected an elven princess would behave. She didn't trust her friendly nature and she certainly wouldn't allow herself to be lulled into some false sense of security with sweet words. Ilea was trying to find out all that she could about what Tanis was and what they got up to up north when they were both far away from anyone who could do anything about it. Perhaps it was paranoid of her to suspect her but what else was she to think when elven rulers had massacred all human rulers during the war by feigning concern so that they were all within easy reach for the slaughtering? At the same time however she was still obliged to play along and answer as many questions as Ilea wanted to ask. Had she climbed all the mountains north of Jormsen. What was the strangest thing she had ever seen in the forests of Jormsen. Had she ever been this far from home before. Was this her first time meeting an elf (she liked being the elf Tanis had spent the most time with, eyes bright and cheeks pink.) It continued until it was time to set up camp for the night, walking Ilea through how to properly pitch a tent and she took a strange sort of delight in using her magic to light a fire that wouldn't burn out even with wet wood and snow still thick upon the ground. Hunger gnawed at her and she tore into the meat that hadn't been smoked or salt, preferring not to waste it.  
  
"We should hunt soon if we can," Ilea suggested and Tanis nodded her agreement. "Save as much of the food that's going to last for when we get to the dwarven empire."  
  
"We should head up through the woods, better hunting, more cover. I only met one wolf and a pitiful excuse of a rabbit on my way to Tishlen."  
  
"I think our hunters cleared out the last of most of the game before the winter feast. Even then, this winter felt harder than most."  
  
"It was longer, at the very least." It snowed all year round in the furthest reaches of the north, particularly in Jormsen and you learned very quickly to tell the difference in weather that those from further south would lump together. "It started to lie from the middle of the year in the mountains, did you get the ice storms down here?"  
  
"The tail end of one. Not the worst I can remember but that was twenty years ago." Tanis snorted despite herself, shaking her head as she sipped from her cup of water and Ilea looked at her strangely from across the fire. "What?"  
  
"Nothing, you just say twenty years ago so casually and I forget that you're just shy of being a hundred. Twenty years ago I was likely just learning to walk."  
  
Ilea smiled thankfully, rather than becoming offended. "Human lives are so short, I've lived through at least one human lifespan and my people would say I'm still a child. Legally I'm an adult but you know what parents are like."  
  
_I don't_ , Tanis thought, making a vague humming noise that could have been agreement. _I have a mother and father in name but they were never my parents. We don't have parents in Jormsen._ "Do you think we'll see any nymphs on the journey?"  
  
"I doubt it. The route doesn't take us through Borea and they'll stay in there."  
  
"A shame, I would have liked to see one."  
  
"They wouldn't want to see you," Tanis blurted before she could help it and Ilea's eyes went wide, nostrils flaring.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nymphs hide if they think an elf is coming." She could have kicked herself for not apologising but it had been a long day and she had put up with enough questions already.  "The forests and rivers remember what the elves and dwarves did to them the same as humans do. A nymph knows who walks in the woods and passes through their streams, I would never bring an elf through Borea if I could help it and they would retreat from you so you might walk right past them and never know it."  
  
"I see." A shadow passed over Ilea's face and Tanis would most likely come to regret the outburst but there was a thrill of satisfaction at saying something like that right to an elf's face, watching something so close to hurt colouring the delicate features.  
  
The meal was finished in silence, the few things they needed packed away before Tanis got to her feet with a murmur of checking their surroundings. It wasn't a lie even if Ilea would see better and further in the dark than her but she felt as if ants were crawling under her skin, skittering up and down her spine and some space would do her good. She lingered when normally she would only complete a quick circuit, covering her tracks as best she could until she had to turn back to their little camp, the light of the fire too bright in the dark. Ilea twitched when she returned and it would have been easy enough to keep track of Tanis on her little patrol, she hadn't gone far at all but she merely nodded when she was informed, unnecessarily, that all was well.  
  
"I'll take first watch," Tanis announced because like it or not, she'd have to trust Ilea to guard her. She could last without sleep when it was necessary but she'd already slept in the palace, surrounded by elves, she could trust one of them to guard her as she did the same.  
  
"No, you were the one to lead, I can take first watch," Ilea argued, a defiant set to her jaw.  
  
Sighing, she shook her head, taking a seat by the fire, letting the flames lick at her fingers. "You have never camped like this before, take a chance to rest while you can while it's still quiet."  
  
"Do you think me some incapable child?"  
  
_Yes_ , Tanis thought, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes. "Of course not, if you were incapable or a child we would not be here but you are the princess and I am your subject so offering you to rest first is the right thing to do."  
  
"I could order you."  
  
The words hung in the air, shocking Tanis enough that she couldn't even glare, sure her mouth was hanging open. She barely knew the elf but the words seemed wrong coming from her and judging by the look on her face, they'd felt wrong, tasted wrong coming out. A hot flush crept up Tanis' neck, anger and shame and resentment accompanied by the sting of angry tears that always threatened whenever she'd felt like this in the past. You weren't supposed to cry in Jormsen. You weren't supposed to feel anything like that. You were meant to be glad that you were doing your duty, being a productive member of the community, to feel a sense of pride. Your lot in life was the same as everyone else. The fire swelled and grew, crackling dangerously and Ilea's eyes were huge, her face bloodless except for her cheeks, mouth hanging open and it took Tanis a long moment to realise she was talking.  
  
"I'm sorry!" The elf whispered frantically, holding her hands out in front of her. "Forgive me, I...I should never—I don't know what came over me-"  
  
The apology threw her. Elves did not apologise. Elves ordered and controlled and looked down imperiously and something curled low in her belly that she didn't have a name for. She could hear the roar of her heart in her ears, too hot until she took a deep breath and then another, closing her eyes to block it all out until the fire burned low again, the air about her so cold she shivered. "Get some sleep," she forced out.  
  
"I'm sorry," Ilea whispered again as she got to her feet and she hesitated when she passed Tanis, her hand hovering as if to reach out before thinking better of it. She listened as she walked away, the tent flap opening and closing, the rustle of fabric as she undressed and settled herself for sleep.  
  
It should have been Tanis apologising, throwing herself at Ilea's feet and begging forgiveness but something had happened and she didn't know what it was or what to do and she wished she could run, bouncing her knee and drumming her fingers on her thighs as she sat in the snow, something restless and wild in her. She'd enjoyed Ilea's fear and yet she hadn't. Or maybe the part of her that remembered elven raids and seeing faces that could have been her in Tishlen, the ones on the block being auctioned off like animals or those waiting on elves and serving them meals they would never taste. There was nothing that could be done about it now when she'd barely been able to speak so she stared out at the fire as the panic bubbled away, missing her bed in the Fangs, even missing the very worst of her teachers. She wasn't tired when she woke Ilea for her turn at watch, the elf jerking awake before she'd pulled the tent flap all the way open, quickly wriggling into her leather armour as Tanis averted her gaze. They didn't speak and that was for the best because she couldn't trust herself right now, not when she'd replayed the moment over and over in her mind, distracted enough that her fingers fumbled the clasps on her armour and the laces on her boots, glad to be out of them until she curled up in the warm spot in the bedroll Ilea had left. It smelt like winter berries and juniper, a light note above the lingering musk of the animal skin it was made of and she stretched out until her back popped, at last able to relax her shoulders and wriggle her toes. Sleep was elusive, just out of reach and she tossed and turned, eyes falling shut for stolen moments here and there before she jerked awake again at each and every noise. Thankfully training had been worse than this but as far as first days had gone, they'd gotten off to a bad start and she hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come. They had a long way to go yet, just the two of them and she might have ruined her chances of a good ending to this already. When dawn finally stained the sky red and pink, blinking grit from her burning eyes, Ilea woke her with a gentle shake, the two of them eating in silence. She packed up the camp without words, kicking snow over the mark where the fire had burned and they set off.  
  
The weather turned as they walked. Red and pink faded to blue but then the clouds rolled in, great swollen things, grey and ugly. She could almost taste the storm in her throat and steeled herself; she was used to travelling in all weathers imaginable but it didn't mean she enjoyed it and even if Ilea had been hunting, elven royalty probably didn't head out when the rain fell in icy sheets, the wind whipping it into your eyes to blind you. It did little to lift their spirits as she glanced over to Ilea as often as she dared, taking note of her hunched shoulders and the set of her jaw when she wasn't looking just above her own feet, looking lost in her own thoughts as if she were miles away. More than once Tanis opened her mouth to say something but the words caught in her throat so she stayed silent until she spotted a large hare and tapped Ilea's arm to catch her attention. In a blur she loosed her arrows, one in the thigh to slow it down, the next punching through the throat and they stopped to butcher it, again in silence, Tanis dragging off the carcass and trying not to sigh at how wasteful it was to just dump it. She rarely butchered her own kills when someone would buy the pelts and use the bones for something but it would keep the wild beasts away from their camp and they needed the meal more than she and Ilea did. Ilea produced a box of salt and herbs, rubbing them into the meat before they cooked them on the fire, ready to move on when the storm finally hit, forcing them hurriedly pitch the tent, Tanis swearing when her fingers kept fumbling with tying the knots.  
  
The tent could sleep two people if they didn't mind being pressed close but when they'd said nothing since Ilea's apology the night before it simply made it worse, forcing them to retreat to their respective corners as best they could. Ilea curled forward, wrapping her elbows around her knees and Tanis reached into her pack to pull out a knife and a block of wood she'd picked up, smooth and dark, settling in to carve as the wind shrieked and whipped at the tent against her back. She couldn't say she was particularly gifted at carving but it was soothing in its own way and better than sitting there in an increasingly stuffy tent as a storm rumbled overhead, an ice storm from the sound of the rain and she knew how it felt to be out in weather like that, skin pierced by a thousand vicious needles even through thick leathers.  
  
"What are you carving?" Ilea asked at last, clearing her throat, voice croaking and rough.  
  
"Rune token," Tanis replied after a pause where she weighed the merits of keeping silent. "Maybe, we'll see what it looks like when I'm done."  
  
"Is it something you wear?"  
  
"Sometimes." Keeping her eyes on her work, she tried her best not to think about Ilea until she heard her heave a sigh and sit upright.  
  
"I'm sorry about last night, I was rude, I was-"  
  
"I should be the one apologising, I am your subject-"  
  
"No, you are my companion," Ilea insisted, shaking her head and moving closer on her knees to lay her hands on Tanis' arm, forcing her to stop her carving. "I was tired, I was," she paused and wet her lips, closing her eyes for a moment as if to gather herself, "homesick already. I don't think I truly realised what we were undertaking and that's no excuse-"  
  
It was Tanis' turn to squirm this time, awkwardly setting a hand on Ilea's arm in what she hoped was comforting or something along those lines. "I apologise for losing my temper, it was not my place. We can forget it and move on." It was a touch presumptuous but perhaps it would sound appealing enough. The elf nodded, not looking entirely satisfied but she moved back to her corner of the tent where she began to unbraid her hair so Tanis considered the matter settled as she resumed carving. She'd managed to save her skin for the moment at least, a reminder to be more careful in future. It was always her temper that threatened to get the best of her, a risk they said came with having a heart of flame, one who felt more deeply than all the rest.  
  
The storm did not abate and the more the skies darkened, the more ferocious it became until Tanis was sure the tent would be ripped from the ground or the sides would tear as the sky seemed fit to split itself in two and even she started to shiver, her and Ilea resorting to sitting shoulder to shoulder. She drew from within herself, the fire that lay kindled in her chest, safe behind her ribs in her heart and let it imagined it spreading out, running through her veins until her skin felt warm to the touch. Without her armour save for the bracers, it meant she could more easily – although not without reluctance and a good measure of awkwardness – reach out an arm to wrap around Ilea's slender shoulders, drawing the elf close. She was shivering more than Tanis with her teeth chattering hard. She'd never spent a winter having to go out unless the snows trapped you inside. She'd never had to endure a storm without the safety of stone walls the palace provided. At least the cold was all that seemed to bother her unlike the storm itself the way it made some children when they were too little to be used to them. If Ilea was only bothered by feeling cold then it meant their venture would still be a success. If she had been frightened, it would have added to the doubt Tanis felt, the nagging sensation that she should turn aside lest it all blow up in her face but this was the only option. The elf made a satisfied noise and her eyelids started to droop. She was tired, Tanis realised, having had little to occupy her the way Tanis had had her carving to at least keep the boredom at bay.  
  
"Sleep," she urged.  
  
"What about," Ilea yawned and Tanis yawned too, "you?"  
  
"I'll wake you. I'm used to sleeping out in the storms." Muffled by the forest but the wooden houses in Jormsen let the storms in, the cruel fingers of the wind finding every gap and crack in the wood and windows to come whistling in until you pulled the furs and blankets over your head and made a safe little nest, unwilling to move and risk exposing even a toe to the outside air.  
  
"No one should be used to that." It was a sleepy mumble, the words slurring but Ilea was dead weight against her seconds later, her eyelashes a dark smudge on now flushed cheeks so at least she was warm and content.  
  
When Tanis felt her shoulder begin to go numb she lowered the princess carefully, tensing when she made sleepy protesting noises but she settled again, comfortable enough with Tanis holding a hand flat over her stomach to make sure her magic still kept her warm enough. With the way the storm battered their tent and with the thin barrier it provided from the world, it would never warm up enough the way it might have otherwise but at least no one was shivering any longer. She was strange, this elven princess. Not at all what Tanis expected and it seemed to be equally bad and good. She'd been kinder in Tishlen, she seemed genuinely interested in what Tanis did with her life and then there had been how foreign it seemed for her when she'd tried to order Tanis and that it had led to a sincere apology, perhaps more if Tanis had allowed it. Elves in her experience and from what she had been taught didn't care and it wasn't as if the guards who had met her at the gate at first had done much to help correct that impression. They'd laughed at her pain at a joke they'd devised and the captain, nice as she had been, had only said she would discipline them for the way they had treated a guest. Ilea's family had had human slaves present when Tanis had dined with them, they'd probably cleaned the room, washed her clothes, cooked the meals she had eaten and enjoyed. Ilea had been waited on by human slaves her whole life for what need would there be for elven servants when you could order someone to do the work for free more or less, only having to pay them in food and the clothes upon their backs? At least she hope she could take it as a sign that Ilea was a kind mistress to them and not a monster who beat them and called them awful things. That was the sort of thing you heard about elves and their slaves. Some of the nomads had been slaves once who had managed to escape, some of them having been sentenced to death and wanting to at least die on their own terms, others having been rescued by their loved ones. Often in the south where they swore things were better and that often the chase was half-hearted at best, more in the west where things were said to be awful, to be worse than anyone could ever imagine. A few were northern but they tended not to linger for obvious reasons. Many bore the scars of harsh beatings, great ragged criss-crossing lines of scar tissue on their backs from the lash but it was the eyes on so many of them. Old even on the young, aged before their time, deep lines in their faces and a way of flinching if voices were raised. If you were lucky it wasn't even about praise or being thought of as valuable. It meant being invisible, the eyes of the master or mistress passing over you. It did not do to catch their eye for any reason because they had appetites that they could sate with a human that they might not get away with if they tried with their own kind. That or they simply wanted the nearest willing body that couldn't dare disobey.  
  
She always wondered if there had ever been children born of the unions. None of the women who managed to speak of it had children with them and there were herbs to be taken to prevent pregnancy in the first place or to stop life before it took root and she had to imagine that no elf wanted some strange half-elven child in the first place. It was probably shameful to have a child with your slave.  
  
But then there had always been talk, especially the nomads who came from the south, swearing that it was different to what Tanis had been taught though the elders had done enough each passing year to ensure that they were much more careful with that sort of talk than they had been in the past, when there had been a few years of young folk from Jormsen packing up to travel with them. Royalty still kept slaves but a lot of the slaves in other households were more like servants, paid money, not forced to wear shackles, owning their own little homes in the city. Some of them were supposedly respected as smiths or healers with their own businesses but people in the south were strange folk and she didn't know how much to trust them. Her elders looked out for Jormsen and had kept it as best they could in the centuries since the war and even if Tanis didn't always like their decisions, she understood the necessity. There were not so many of them that they could afford to be selfish and everyone had to work together to ensure their continued survival. They spoke of how they must never cause offence to an elf, to do as asked, to not give them cause for complaint but to never trust them because when they had in the past, where had it gotten them?  
  
Still, she looked to Ilea, now curled on her side facing Tanis, a small smile of contentment on her face and something stirred, the instincts that had kept her alive whispering that she was safe, that there was nothing to fear.  
  
It would be awful if this was the first time they failed her.


	5. Chapter 5

The third morning was grey as their second day had ended but the worst of the storm had passed by the time they woke, eating a quick breakfast, only Tanis hungry from using her magic after most of the day and night had been spent sitting around or sleeping. They'd traded every couple of hours through the night until the storm had reached its peak and they'd ended up close, eyes closed and waiting for it to break, trying to speak but only Ilea had been able to hear Tanis properly even pressed together as tightly as they were. Eventually they had succumbed to exhaustion, jerking awake at the sound of thunder rolling over them and the crack of lightning but nothing would disturb their camp in the storm but for the storm itself so it had been safe to lie back to back, sharing warmth and ready with weapons just to be safe. When Tanis had woken she'd been on her back and Ilea had been pressed to her side, cheek on her shoulder, snoring lightly. Neither of them mentioned it as they emerged from the tent and into the world. It was cold but the wind had subsided, staggering in the snowdrift that had piled around the tent. Sheets of ice had frozen down the sides and Tanis put on her armour and broke them with the pommel of her sword, grinning when they shattered.  
  
"Couldn't you melt them?" Ilea asked as she rubbed her hands, blowing into them.  
  
"Would you want a soaking wet tent in your pack?" Tanis asked and the elf shook her head, smiling before she raised her hands to her mouth again.  
  
She was the one to pull Tanis hood up for her when the sleet began to fall as she packed the tent away as quickly as she could. They'd lost the best part of a day already and as the sleet began to fall more heavily, she realised they'd have to change their route slightly already for where snow was cold and the storm of yesterday impossible to travel in, sleet was even worse. Rain made you wet and cold but it didn't settle on you the way sleet would, a thick wet blanket you kept shaking off, feeling it chill you and it was warm enough to start eating away at the ice-capped snow beneath their feet and that made the ground treacherous, both of them having to slow down when they either slipped and fell forward into it if they couldn't catch themselves and recover in time or they suddenly found themselves sinking deep. Huge drifts had piled up, far worse than their tent, a result of the wind and soon Tanis and Ilea found themselves up to their knees, swearing and cursing at the weather as they made painstakingly slow progress.  
  
"The woods," Tanis instructed, pointing ahead of them and to the tree line. "It'll be sheltered, whatever we find in there, I'd rather deal with it than this."  
  
"Agreed," Ilea muttered, shaking her head to clear another pile of slowly melting sleet and slush that settled on it. Together they struggled to reach the safety of the trees, grinning when the snows thinned until at last they were beneath a canopy where no sleet could reach them. "I have never been so happy to see a tree in all my life." She was currently wiping down her bow and grabbing her arrows so she could empty the quiver of the slush that had gotten inside, a sour look on her face.  
  
"I couldn't stand more of that slush. It's rare that we get it so high in the mountain but we do and no one wants to do anything. I'd take most things over that though not another storm from last night, I'm not sure how much more of that sort of weather that tent can take."  
  
"It felt taut as a bowstring last night," Ilea agreed and it was an accurate assessment. "I was afraid to touch it."  
  
"The ice probably did some good in the end, a barrier between us and it."  
  
"Couldn't you do that with your magic?"  
  
"You seem awfully willing to see my magic and be close to it, what with you being an elf."  
  
Ilea shrugged and removed her cloak once her bow and arrows were sorted, shaking it out. "I have seen magic performed as displays but most of them have little to no training in how to use it for anything more than healing."  
  
"So I am a performance to you?" Bitterness crept into her tone as she set down her own pack to remove her cloak and shake it out as Ilea had done.  
  
"No! I mean...we asked it of you and I think they – my parents, likely my older brothers – thought it would be an honour? To show off before everyone? Humans are never allowed to do so, not one trained as you are."  
  
"An honour," Tanis echoed, followed by a short hollow laugh as she shook the cloak hard enough to make the fabric crack like a whip, the sound startling both Ilea and several birds from a nearby tree that flew off with an angry chattering.  
  
"There are so few..." Ilea trailed off as Tanis readied herself to get moving again, pushing past the elf when she reached out to catch her by the arm.  
  
"We have ground to cover, to make up for yesterday and today thus far, come on."  
  
She heard the sigh but Ilea followed after her dutifully.  
  
The forest was hushed, thick with the smell of damp leaves and earth, dark from the thick canopy. A thin layer of snow lay on the ground but already the first signs of spring were present, the grass green underfoot whereas elsewhere, unless it was kept clear like the fields in Jormsen the land emerged patchy and mostly brown, a good month of mud before anything grew again. She stopped to pluck plants she knew that could be turned into healing salves or poultices if the need arose, tucking them in the pouch at her hip where the summons had once sat. Ilea didn't ask questions this time but she stopped more than Tanis, tilting her head strangely, eyes wide not in alarm but probably to see better Tanis waited each time, hand on her sword but nothing ever came of it so they marched onward, following a small stream they stumbled across where they both crouched to drink and refill their flasks now that there wasn't convenient snow to melt. Tiny fish darted past her, too small to be worth trying to catch but it made her smile. The end of winter was always a good time even if she had to spend it like this and not in Jormsen when they cracked open new barrels of mead to celebrate surviving, all spice and honey and singing the old ballads. Not that any of them were cheerful, especially not the most famous one, the ballad of Áki and Stígandr, the Dragon Knight shield-brothers and lovers of old, so old no one was sure if they were myth or legend or both. It wasn't quite time to be singing of them but it would be close enough and if the weather continued the way it had thus far then Tanis would probably miss it even if she were allowed to return. It was strange to think that she would miss things like that when sometimes she would roll her eyes and wonder why they kept their celebrations, when they were the same year after year and at least once or twice in your lifetime you looked for a reason not to be drawn into festivities.  
  
"We tell stories about these forests to children," Ilea finally said and Tanis just about managed to swallow the cry of frustration in her throat. Why couldn't they walk in silence? Why did the elf – no, she was beyond being an elf, she was an arrow tip, the name they'd given the elves same as they'd given the dwarves the name cave rat – think she cared?  
  
"I'm sure they're about how dangerous they are and how good elven children should stay out of them before the nymphs lead out all the wild beasts to devour them whole," she retorted savagely because the elves had never held any love for nature when they'd been chopping it down and burning it. The silence hung in the air and a grim smile crept over Tanis' face. "A silence that says I'm right."  
  
"There are tales of bewitched creatures," Ilea admitted with reluctance.  
  
"Like the viridjur?"  
  
"Viridjur?" It was a word in the human tongue, uncertain if elves would have a word for it and it sounded wrong when Ilea tried it.  
  
"It means green deer."  
  
"A green deer?"  
  
An exasperated sigh escaped Tanis and she stopped, turning to fix Ilea with a sour look. "Yes and no. If the nymphs have their own word for it then neither of us will know unless your people learned their tongue and never informed the rest of Stjarnacado. They're found in nymph forests but sometimes they wander, I've seen one or two in my life. They look like any deer but according to the books they're like northern deer, thicker pelt, larger all over. They're green, usually a dark blue-green but they can change, supposedly."  
  
"So a green deer then." The elf sounded unimpressed and Tanis turned, wondering why she was even bothering at this point.  
  
"For someone who has lived over four times the years I have, I would have thought you would at least pretend to be patient. Unless a lowly human talking about elves is not worth your patience." A quick glance over her shoulder gave her a view of Ilea's red cheeks, but whether it was a flush of anger or embarrassment, Tanis couldn't say. "They have plants that grow on their backs, same as the wood nymphs do. Spring and summer and they're full of flowers, butterflies following them everywhere, little birds and bees.  The antlers aren't made of bone, it's a special sort of wood."  
  
"Do you craft with it?"  
  
"No. It belongs to the nymphs, they gather it and if we find it we leave it where it lies or take it to the border of Borea and leave it there for them if we can. The books say you can trade for it but only if a nymph finds you and the intended use for the antlers is to make something beautiful, you must _always_ respect the wood. Always."  
  
"Unlike my people," Ilea mumbled and the satisfaction Tanis felt was laced with something she didn't have a name for.  
  
"Unlike your people," she agreed and Ilea said nothing more until she tapped Tanis on the shoulder to point out a deer to her.  
  
They could have stood to travel further but the promise of a decent meal and adding to their supplies wasn't one to be missed so Tanis drew her bow and moved to the higher ground, more experienced at hunting in a forest to Ilea but together they made short work of the deer. Ilea moved faster when she fired than Tanis' eyes could keep up with and even her anger with the other woman couldn't stop her from admiring how fine a shot she was and the picture she made, fluid and graceful. It was Ilea who cut the deer's throat when they caught up to it, a single clean slice as it let out one last cry before falling still. They hauled it back between them and this time Ilea sat close to watch Tanis butcher it, claiming she wanted to feel more useful. She had hunted many times, she confessed, but it was only about the hunt, the butchery left to others and Tanis was unsurprised. When the worst of it was done she sent Ilea off to find the correct wood for a fire so she could smoke most of the meat and she returned with those and a small handful of berries, holding them out until Tanis' eyes went wide.  
  
"Did you eat any?" She asked immediately. Elven princesses didn't learn the finer points of survival or plant life as a matter of course and even if Ilea had studied prior to them setting out when she planned her venture, she wouldn't be good enough to spot the difference between a poisonous and non-poisonous plant.  
  
"No," she assured her quickly, looking at her outstretched hand as though the berries in it would come to life, grow teeth and bite. "Are they poisonous?"  
  
"Only in large amounts but even a small handful gives you stomach cramps and diarrhoea that can kill just as quick."  
  
Ilea made a face, lobbing the berries as far as she could as she handed over what Tanis had instructed her to gather. "You speak as though you know of this."  
  
"Every child in Jormsen learns their herb lore, we have to." She'd seen someone die from it too but she wasn't about to tell the elf that. She'd been young, one of the times they were thrown into the woods to make their way back and she'd heard the moaning and smelt something foul and had come across a boy, his sweaty face still stained with berry juice, collapsed in a pool of his own filth. "If you eat too many," she continued, putting the memory to one side, "then you sweat and start to shake too, you throw up and there's blood coming out of both ends." She got to work on cutting the venison into thinner strips fit for smoking, wrapping thicker cuts for their meal in waxy leaves she had cut down, sealing them with a touch of ice of her own summoning. "It's a bad way to go, delirious with your body trying to purge itself from both ends at once."  
  
"Please," Ilea retched violently though nothing came up, "no more, not when you're cutting the meat."  
  
_This is the life your subjects lead your majesty. You live safe in a palace and we scrape to survive and this is how we can die._ Sometimes she wondered if the boy had made a mistake or if he had given up. It wasn't unheard of though the elders did their best to make it so, someone having a tragic accident or making a mistake that cost them their lives.  
  
"Can I help?" Ilea asked, gesturing to where Tanis had set the strips of meat out on the deer's skin.  
  
"Come here." With one hand outstretched, she concentrated, feeling the ground shake before them, Ilea letting out an alarmed cry and it was only belatedly that Tanis remembered the earthquakes and tremors she had felt that had prompted her wanting to investigate the dwarves. She could suffer the discomfort as Tanis curled her hand into a fist and lifted up, a circular area of earth following her that she tossed to the side. She could have used her hands or ordered Ilea to dig in the absence of a shovel but it was quicker this way and she smirked. At least her using fire went without comment as she banked it down to something she could work with without charring the meat horribly.  "Skewer the strips onto the green stick you have, keep it all at least a foot above the fire."  
  
"If you have magic," Ilea muttered as she followed the instructions, "why did I need to gather that wood."  
  
"We're smoking the meat, not cooking it. I can make the fire but I need the wood for plenty of smoke. You made sure not to add pines?"  
  
"Are they toxic too?"  
  
"No, but they make the meat taste odd, it's better not to use them."  
  
"There's no pine in it." She sounded put-upon but it was her idea to help and the more Tanis taught her, the better.  
  
"Good. It'll take time, I'll make another fire for what we'll eat tonight, just keep an eye on them."  
  
"How do we know when they're done?"  
  
"If they bend there's too much moisture in them, when they crack then we can stop."  
  
Soon one fire crackled and the other one smoked, Ilea coughing and wiping at her eyes, the smell of meat in the air. There was more chance of encountering a wild beast here but Ilea had proven just how fast and accurate she was with a bow so it was of little concern. This was hardly the time of year to find bandits either, the snow impeded them as much as anyone else and they liked to wait until caravans were on the road, rich plunder for them and more wild beasts to poach easily. She'd leave the bones for the animals or the forest, whichever reclaimed them first. Her stomach growled at the smell of the venison and she reached into the pouch, plucking a few leaves from the herbs she had gathered to chew as she waited, turning the meat slowly. They couldn't always have fresh meat when it took so long and she didn't want these to be dry even if they'd be unseasoned.  
  
"Do all of you learn how to cook?" Ilea asked, clearing her throat as she fanned at the smoke.  
  
"It isn't required of us but most of us do, why?"  
  
"I'm making conversation."  
  
"There's no need."  
  
She sighed, frowning at Tanis. "I thought we might become friends."  
  
"And why would I ever want to be friends with _you_?" Tanis shot back, venom in her voice, enough to catch Ilea off-guard, looking stunned and hurt. "Just leave it. Here, it's ready."  
  
It was tempting to throw the steak at Ilea as she angrily extinguished the fire and started to eat her own, glowering into the dark of the woods. They should've pitched the tent by now but they hadn't, too busy with hunting and cooking and answering stupid questions. And now the elf's suggestion that they would be friends. In the end her mood put her off her dinner that might as well have been dry grass, the taste lost even when she licked her fingers before she let fire burn the last traces of the grease away. Ilea was still eating carefully when Tanis checked on the strips of meat being smoked before she set up the tent, the elf joining her in pulling the lines taut once she was done. The carcass and bones of the deer were still too close so she muttered about disposing them, leaving Ilea back at camp. It was quiet this late, the odd hoot of a pair of owls calling to one another, no chorus of insects, not even the howl of wolves. The bushes rustled but it was likely only some little thing in search of a meal as she tossed the skin, guts and bones as far as she could. It'd feed some other hungry thing and she waited, crouching in the dark, watching to see how quickly something might come but nothing did so she circled back to camp, checking on the meat. Ilea offered to take the first watch and Tanis agreed with a nod, not particularly caring and happy enough to let her sit with the meat. If it went wrong it could be on the elf's head, they had enough in their packs and they'd see more game and caring was beyond her for the moment. Sleep came easily, dreams too, a familiar one where she watched as a bystander as her body began to change, her fingers and toes lengthening into claws, her scale burning away to reveal scales as wings sprouted from her back, tendons and sinew tearing, bones cracking, a great roar torn from her throat. But then it changed and suddenly she was herself. The ground beneath her cold stone and she was shivering, her heart pounding.  
  
Not her heart.  
  
Her hand reached out towards the shadowy figures that stood above her but they pushed it down, faces hidden behind black robes and there was something warm trickling down her chest but she couldn't raise her arm, could barely breathe and instead of roaring she let out a strangled cough, wet and desperate but they didn't care and her vision turned grey at the edges.  
  
They held something in their hands and she struggled to stay awake, she had to fight it, she had to stay with it and ignore the deafening roar in her ears, the warmth of the darkness creeping closer and closer. She couldn't even make a sound when she tried. Her hand wouldn't move no matter how she strained and it was harder to breathe.  
  
A figure loomed closer, something in their hand, something red and pulsing and somehow she could still weep-  
  
She woke with a start, sweat pouring from her brow, clothes sticking to her skin, tears in her eyes. Her hands shook and she bent over, head between her knees, trying to breathe as she remembered where she was. She was whole and no one loomed over her but when her hand pressed down over her left ribs and felt the ridge of scar tissue beneath her palm she shuddered again.  
  
"Tanis?" Ilea sounded hesitant when she called out, silhouetted by the light of the fire and Tanis swallowed again, wiping her face with her hands before she threw open the tent flap, the night air hitting her like a slap.  
  
"I'll take over now." Her voice sounded strained to her own ears and Ilea noticed, she'd been close enough to hear Tanis when she'd probably been tossing and turning and she could only hope she hadn't been talking in her sleep too. It wasn't something she wanted to share with the elf. It wasn't something she wanted the elf to know anything about.  
  
"Are you-"  
  
"Is the meat done?" She cut Ilea off, changing the subject abruptly and the elf nodded, pointing to where it sat wrapped carefully by her pack. "Good."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't," she hissed. It was enough to send Ilea inside the tent but not before she clenched her jaw and muttered something about humans that Tanis couldn't quite catch. She wrapped the meat more securely, stowing it in their packs before she wrapped her arms around her knees and listened to the forest all about them, waiting for dawn to come.  
  
She had listened to Ilea toss and turn as she had but without the sound of any nightmares as she had kept watch and her mood seemed to finally match Tanis' as they set off again. It was a different sort of silence, a black and ugly one that followed them as they walked through the woods until at last Ilea finally grabbed her by the arm hand enough that she almost fell, using the closest tree to keep her on her feet.  
  
"What do you want!" She snapped, wrenching her arm from Ilea's grasp.  
  
"I could ask you the very same thing!" She'd never seen an elf angry before and it was disappointingly like dealing with any other angry person only with pointed ears. Ilea's pale cheeks had flushed red and her hands were balled into fists by her side. "I am trying to get to know you, I and my family have entrusted my _life_ to you!"  
  
"I swore I would keep you safe and that is all I intend to do. I have no other agenda or desires." She let her voice drop, quiet but the calm was a false one, like the eye of a storm and she could feel the very air about her grow hot.  
  
Ilea's near scream of frustration wasn't as satisfying as she thought it would be, the elf taking a long time to compose herself enough to speak. "I want us to speak plainly. In the palace you play games with speech, everyone trying to curry favour, to worm their way closer before even touching what it's like with the other kingdoms but we are not at the palace, we are not in your home, it is the two of us and I would know what you think of me, what I have done that is so terrible as to offend you in this manner."  
  
"You want to know then fine, Solace knows I've held my tongue all my life about your kind!" She could hear the voices of her elders, her teachers, even Ragna, her mother, all of them warning her, telling her to master her temper, to be calm, to breathe but it felt like finally draining poison from a wound that had festered too long, gritting your teeth against the pain, knowing that it would be worth it. "Your people almost wiped us out! You have taken _everything_ from us! Our way of life, our history – we don't even remember the names of all our dragons anymore, you saw to that. We live in villages where we had kingdoms and those who don't want to live so close travel constantly and some turn to banditry because there is no other way!"  
  
"They made a choice!"  
  
"Not all choices are choices." She flinched when she said it, her hold on her anger slipping for a moment, the nightmare so close she could see those gnarled hands outstretched behind Ilea, the heart held in them and she shook her head, telling herself it wasn't real, she was awake.  
  
"No one forced them to become bandits, no one has forced them to do anything!"  
  
"You have!"  
  
Her shout bordered a scream and she clenched her fists, fire in her eyes. Ilea took a step back and she could see herself reflected in the elf's eyes, a wild animal and not a person but there was no stopping now.  
  
"I-"  
  
"No. No you will listen and maybe at last you'll understand why I have no desire to be your friend elf, to pretend that all is well and fine, why I would rather be anything else than be friend to an _arrow tip._ " She took a shaky breath and was dimly aware of a crackle of flame from her fingers, cupped in her palms, blood sizzling when her nails dug deep enough to break the skin. "Your people took everything from us in the war and all that you have now was built on our blood and our bones. Do you think people would choose to be slaves? I'm sure that those who rebel and fight are punished for it. Just because you say you treat your slaves kindly does not wash your hands of it. You. Have. Slaves." She punctuated the words with an angry jab of her finger, leaving an impression on Ilea's fine leather armour as she hurried to step back, hands on the hilts of her twin daggers. "Any choice we make is a choice we have to make because you made it so we have nothing. Your people still conduct raids if you want new slaves. You take our language from us so that we have to worry if you have spies who might hear us and take more of our ancient books. Can you imagine what it's like to walk into a city and not know if you will ever see your home again but to still count yourself lucky that you have one and that you've had all the years of freedom that you've had? Even though it's nothing compared to your freedom. Everything I do, I do for the good of Jormsen and don't you dare try to compare your duties to mine, you cannot _possibly_ imagine what I have done and what I must do for my people. There is no choice that has ever truly been mine to make. Just the choice that I can live with longest, the one that lets me wake up in the morning with less resentment and regret in my heart.  
  
"I'm sorry." She sounded tearful, backed against a tree, ashamed and frightened.  
  
"Having magic is something to be proud of, it's part of us, part of who we are and every child learns how to use it except slaves. You deny them their freedom, their language, their birthright, you put them on the block and sell them like animals and _laugh_ about it."  
  
"I have never-"  
  
"This isn't about just you! Your kind, your family, your beloved mother and father, your brothers and their wives; everything that you are, that is because not even your ancestors but your parents and so many of your people that still live and breathe, is because you and the dwarves decided that my people had to die and be brought to heel. I don't care if you did nothing but apologise to each and every one of us and the bones of our ancestors, there is nothing you can do as you sit there and call yourself princess of Tishlen to make this right, to even _begin_ to make it right. Your people are poison and we will never be rid of it."  
  
At last the worst of her anger had run its course, leaving her feeling small as she took a step back from Ilea, the fire gone to leave her cold, shivers wracking her frame. She inhaled raggedly so she missed the rustling in the bushes and only saw a muscle jumping in Ilea's jaw before she was drawing her bow before she could stop her, staring at the sharp, glittering point right before her eye.


	6. Chapter 6

Lurching forward, she wrapped a hand around Ilea's wrist but not before she fired although it at least disrupted the flight of the arrow, both of them falling to the ground in a heap. Ilea's angry protests were disrupted by more rustling however it was not some wild beast intent on devouring them that emerged, instead, with their or rather Tanis' shouting. They had disturbed a wood nymph who stepped from the thicket, clutching the arrow in her palm, favouring it with a curious look. Small and slender, their head would perhaps be level with Tanis' shoulder, bark a pale silver that looked smooth to the eye, mottled with patches of light green. Instead of hair, vines trailed, buds not yet opened dotting their length with what looked like a crown of leaves about their head. Like all nymphs it would be impossible to tell if they were male or female or both or neither (and sometimes they changed with the season or at their own inclination) until they spoke, their wooden frames utterly genderless and nude, lines of bark and patches of leaves and flowers twisting this way and that, strange hollows here and there that used to alarm Tanis when she was younger. Small birds or other little things would nest in them at times but she had always averted her eyes and had never looked inside. It seemed rude to do so and she didn't quite want to know what a nymph's innards might look like either.  
  
"Gerenthe!" It was the human word for sorry that she called out, not quite caring about Ilea at the present moment or how careful she'd been not to use her native tongue until now, the viridjur incident notwithstanding. It was far more likely the nymph would know her tongue that the elven standard anyway. "It was not meant for you, likely me-"  
  
"It was not for you either, I thought something was going to attack us," Ilea interrupted, staring in undisguised wonder at the nymph.  
  
"I heard you quarrelling," the nymph spoke and no matter how many times Tanis had spoken to nymphs in the past, she never got used to their voices, the way they sounded like the wind in the leaves, the creaking of branches, the rustling of grass; nymphs sounded like the forest and this one spoke the elven tongue.  
  
"We are sorry we disturbed you," Tanis apologised in a low voice, getting to her feet at last as she wiped herself off and took a few steps closer. The nymph's eyes were black pits but there was nothing frightening about them, not in the glimmer of light she saw as she smiled reassuringly and reached for the arrow. "Were you wounded?"  
  
"No, the shaft is wood, even felled we know our own." The bark of the nymph's hands was less smooth than it looked when Tanis' fingers brushed against it as she took the arrow and held it out behind her for Ilea to retrieve. "The forest knows you are here, even one like this is alive in ways you wouldn't guess, Tanis and Ilea."  
  
Speech still seemed to be beyond Ilea and Tanis couldn't exactly blame her. She would never have seen a nymph before except in a book and now here one stood that knew her name and spoke. "Would you have us leave?" Tanis offered. It wasn't Borea but a nymph could turn even the earth below their feet against them and set all the forest aflame in a manner of speaking, ready to kill them and she had no reason to upset a nymph just to make their journey easier.  
  
"Tell me why you're here ."  
  
Tanis was the one to do so, turning to glare at Ilea when she whispered sharply that the less who knew of their errand, the better. The argument had made her bold now and she was the one who knew these places and who knew nymphs; long had there been a friendship between humans and nymphs and one elven princess would not stand in the way of it. She recounted it as briefly as she could, the nymph remaining quiet, head nodding with a susurrus of the leaves and vines about their head. When Tanis was done the nymph tipped their head to one side and the ground shifted under Tanis' feet, enough to make Ilea give a cry of alarm and Tanis grabbed her, holding her still and hissing for her to be silent. It ended as soon as it had begun and glancing down she caught long roots retracting back to the nymph's feet.  
  
"I will join you."  
  
The words were not what Tanis had expected, Ilea neither but the nymph only smiled when Ilea asked her to repeat them in a stunned voice.  
  
"I said I will join you. We have felt what Ilea said she felt through our roots and from brethren felled by it and we are concerned. I know I am young and not yet pledged to the forest before the Old Mother but I would join you and see it with my own eyes."  
  
"It will be dangerous," Tanis cautioned, "dwarves are no lovers of the wood and there are many poisons down there. There will be no sun, even the water could cause you to sicken."  
  
"I must do this. I must know and bring back word as you must for your people."  
  
"If that is settled?" Ilea paused and waited for two nods of confirmation to come from human and nymph before she tried to smile though it didn't reach her eyes, still confused and angry when her gaze landed on Tanis. "Then we would gladly have you..." She trailed off after looking the nymph up and down again, squinting to see if she would find some feature that would divine the gender of the nymph stood before them and Tanis had to turn away to hide the grin. Clearly Ilea hadn't done much reading on nymphs if she thought she would be able to look and figure it out herself.  
  
"I am Oran," the nymph replied, smiling.  
  
"But are you...?" Again Ilea trailed off and the nymph frowned, looking between them both.  
  
"She means how we should address you: he or she or they or whatever you would prefer," Tanis explained. If they were to travel together then they would need to move now and cover ground lost.  
  
"Oh! She. I prefer she. I think I usually have more female than male flowers but she feels," Oran stopped to consider things, tapping a finger against where her lips would be if her mouth had more than just an opening, a very human gesture either learned from meeting them or watching them from a distance, "right. Yes." She nodded again and Tanis smiled. It was hard to feel angry around a nymph she'd found and it left her with someone who would hopefully side against Ilea should she need it.  
  
As if the argument had never happened, they set off, Oran a little behind Tanis, tilting her head up to catch what little sun made it through the canopy above them. A bird flew down, some sort of sparrow, and Tanis narrowly avoided stepping on a mouse that promptly skittered up Oran's leg.  
  
"Oran, you said you felt the tremors?" Ilea asked after Tanis had allowed Oran to take point and lead them up through the forest to a more accessible path that would hopefully save them time and get them back on track for a route to the dwarven kingdom.  
  
"Not me personally, Borea is high in the mountains but we have felt the echo of it."  
  
"She won't understand what that means Oran, elves don't know magic and she's never left her kingdom until now." Ilea sighed but didn't argue, seeing as she didn't have a leg to stand on.  
  
"Maybe this is something she will fail to understand entirely then." The nymph shared a look with Tanis who shrugged helplessly. She could understand some of nymph magic given that she had her own but they were even more tied to nature than a human, giving up their moving bodies in the end to be one with it. Explaining her magic had been tricky enough because how could you honestly explain a part of yourself? True, a Dragon Knight had magic that far exceeded any other human and not all of it was as she had explained to Ilea but even then fire had called to Tanis. She didn't know how or why but all she knew was that it was her, in her breath and the very air when she became angry to where she could have stood in flames and emerged without a single scorch mark on her.  
  
"Please," Ilea said softly and Tanis was glad she couldn't see the way her eyebrows rose at the plea. "I would like to try to understand."  
  
Oran made a thoughtful noise in the back of her throat, the sort of sound that reminded Tanis of how the walls would moan when the wind rattled through them, the sound of settling someone had told her. "You feel the wind when it blows through your hair?" She waited for Ilea to nod, stretching out so that more branches opened out along her lithe frame, leaves unfurling slowly as she sighed in satisfaction. "I can hear what the forest hears, I can feel each creature in it, the hedgehog catching insects, the birds making nests. I know what the earth knows and I know what other nymphs know, we all do. We have felt this the way we felt how the world changed generations past when our ancestors gave themselves back to the world to be spared the death they would have suffered. We are ourselves but we are equally one another."  
  
"I don't understand," Ilea admitted and she sounded almost pained by the revelation, enough so that Tanis held her tongue.  
  
"Elves rarely do," Oran replied, a careless remark that had Tanis tensing, waiting for Ilea's anger given the argument Oran had overhead. Nymphs weren't like humans or elves, they didn't have the same concepts of what was rude or hurtful, they were virtually incapable of lying to one another but they never sought to cause harm unless threatened but if Ilea knew that or not, Tanis couldn't say. All it did was make the elf drop her head and Tanis could feel her stomach sink as though she'd swallowed a great stone. The elf fell a little behind them whenever she looked back as Oran chattered away, catching Tanis up on the goings on of the forest that she listened to with half an ear, not quite caring about the individual creatures but intent on the thought of what game they might catch and what might come out after them.  
  
The only downside to having a nymph was that she didn't sleep.  
  
"What do you mean you don't sleep?" Ilea asked when they finally stopped to make camp, Tanis happier to walk longer than they had already when Oran would know of any danger before even Ilea and who might even be able to calm it. Being tired would mean she might not dream when she had only thought of it and the argument with Ilea when they'd walked in silence for most of the day.  
  
"I rest, I draw what I need from the earth and the sky and it might take a moment to rouse me but it would be more like...being far away?"  
  
"Daydreaming?" Ilea suggested and Oran nodded as she crouched low to the ground and circled, trying to find a good spot to plant herself for the night.  
  
"Is that being there but not there, awake but not quite?"  
  
"I think it might be close enough, if it is then I understand. Or I think I do."  
  
Tanis snorted at that, picking up her waterskin, interrupting to ask Ilea's for hers as she headed to the stream, glad of a few moments alone. She was close enough to still hear the conversation drifting over as she shooed away a little frog intent on hopping into the skin. "During winter when the sun is weak and the trees have less of it then I need to rest more but I will know everything that goes on. You can rest together."  
  
"A shame we only brought the one tent then but it should be large enough I think, if we leave our packs outside."  
  
"It must be hard to have to carry so much, all the food and the clothes and the weapons and all the other things rattling around in them."  
  
"We can't all be as efficient as a nymph," Tanis joked as she returned, tossing Ilea's skin at her as she took a seat next to where Oran had let her vines trail to the ground, the little mouse scampering away again, "it would be a far better world if we were though."  
  
Ilea's face fell across from them and Oran looked from her to Tanis and back again but Tanis looked ahead and suggested building a fire to cook some of their dried meat and Oran, having never seen anything like it in person, asked questions, poked and prodded at the meat and chattered away like she had when they'd been walking. It was only when it fell dark and she rose to her feet to settle for the night that Tanis and Ilea began the awkward negotiations as to how to share the tent. Sleeping back to back as they had during the storm made the most sense but she knew how much she craved privacy and space when she'd argued with someone or when an elder her shouted at her and even angry as she had been, even with the justification, it felt like kicking someone while they were down so she let Ilea settle first, sitting out by Oran until she hoped the elf was asleep. The fire she extinguished, squinting out into the dark as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. She'd been near blinded by the snow on her trip down and she hadn't camped in a forest since before winter until now so she'd forgotten how dark it became. Satisfied that they were safe enough and with the packs positioned close enough that she'd hear if something tried to get into them, she crept into the tent in her bare feet, settling down as quietly as she could. Ilea let out a sleepy huff and she shushed her before she thought better of it, curling up on her left side, back to Ilea with her arm under her, the other around the hilt of her sword. She thought she'd managed to not wake Ilea until there was a rustling next to her, Ilea's warmth closer than it had been.  
  
"Tanis?" She whispered and Tanis was too tired to sigh but her breathing would betray that she wasn't asleep yet. The last thing she wanted was another argument because she wouldn't sleep then, she'd lie awake all night in a temper or tossing and turning so she turned slightly, meeting Ilea's eyes in the dark.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm sorry," the elf said, "it's not enough but I'm sorry. I wanted you to know."  
  
The words hung in the air and it wasn't enough, it might never be enough but for the moment at the very least, it was welcome. "Right," she murmured, trying to buy herself a moment so she could put into words what she wanted to say when she couldn't quick make sense of it, more to herself than to Ilea. "That's...it's not unwelcome but I cannot-"  
  
"I understand," Ilea said quickly, rolling over again. Tanis wondered if she did. She could not accept an apology, not at this moment at least, not when it was late and she was too tired to find out how genuine it was but it _was_ welcome and that she wouldn't deny. "I hope you sleep better tonight."  
  
"Me too."  
  
Not even the elven guard she had met who had laughed with the rest deserved to know what her nightmares were truly like.  
  
She couldn't say if it was a single factor – Oran joining them, not being hampered by the weather, not always having to wake and take watch or the argument – or if it was a combination of them or maybe all of them but Tanis felt lighter even after they left the forest for the snows again, heading along a mountain ridge that curved up behind them, sheltering them from the worst of the winds. Ilea was quieter than she had been for the first few days when it had been just her and Tanis but her questions had seemed more careful and thought out and Tanis had been happier to answer those addressed to her. Oran had done most of the talking because young nymphs that left their forests to venture out into the wider world were always the curious ones and for every question Ilea asked, Oran asked two more about life in a city and laughed at an awful lot of what she heard. Usually if it involved food or clothes and she seemed to take a particular sort of delight in the fact that she'd be considered naked by Ilea's people if they saw her. Tanis had laughed too and had even joked that though humans had little modesty, especially among soldiers, they would have said that Ilea might as well be nude if they'd seen the dress she'd worn to the ceremony where Tanis had been presented to the court. It was almost friendly really, if Tanis hadn't sensed the same sort of self-consciousness in Ilea that she felt herself, the hesitations before asking or replying to something, unwilling to upset the truce that had apparently been drawn up with their talk that first night of sharing the tent after Oran's arrival. The going was slower than Tanis would have liked and if they hadn't cleared the air she would have snapped more but she tried to be patient, even if it was something she had never had any talent for. For all that she was light on her feet, mountain paths didn't suit Ilea. She stumbled and yelped, Oran offering to lash vines to her just to be safe but they had to stop often to let her breath, reminding her only to look where she walked and not to look down. It seemed a strange thing to be afraid of when part of the palace sat upon such a high hill and when she rode a griffin but she held her tongue and helped Ilea when she needed it, Oran taking her pack from her in the end.  
  
She'd offered to carry Ilea but had backtracked quickly when she'd seen how white the elf had gone.  
  
"I'm glad you stumbled upon us," she shouted over the din of the wind when it had come howling down from the north. "I would have had to drag her or throw her and the pack over my shoulder if the weather had forced us up here." And from the thick layer of snow she'd seen below them, they would have had to make for the forest eventually. She hadn't imagined it would pile up the way it had so far west where it was usually milder but it had. "You really should have sent word to Rella Regnai about the weather."  
  
"My parents would never have approved such a missive," Ilea called back, rubbing her stinging eyes even when Tanis had told her at least a dozen times not to.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"There are...tensions with Rella Regnai if you will."  
  
"What sort of tensions?"  
  
"They want to," Ilea puffed away, not from exertion but to calm herself again, "expand their territory and their borders. We know very little of how things are in these months when travel is more difficult."  
  
"So they would not have told you the conditions?" Oran asked, spreading roots down from her feet to secure part of the pass that crumbled away and it was Tanis who had to squeeze Ilea's hand when the sound made her yelp in alarm.  
  
"They might have or they might have lied instead and been waiting for us and demanded an explanation as to why the princess is heading west and given that we're heading to the dwarven empire, to say it wouldn't have been well received would be putting it mildly. They would have called a summit or something at the very least even though it's in the north and falls within Tishlen's borders."  
  
"But you're free to go where you please," Oran muttered, sounding almost annoyed at how she had to state the obvious. Tanis had to admit that she was surprised to hear such news herself and she wondered briefly why Ilea hadn't told her at first until she remembered just how much she still kept from Ilea about Jormsen. Maybe the nomads had been more truthful with some of the news they had brought than she'd thought at the time.  
  
It still didn't explain why her elders hadn't wanted them to say anything unless they feared their people leaving and then being caught by a western expansion; at least with Tishlen they knew, more or less, what things would be like and they were still close unlike if they ended up countless miles away in Rella Regnai.  
  
She almost missed Ilea's reply to Oran when it came, lost in her own thoughts. "We aren't as free as you might think, there's a lot that goes on that concerns only those who are in charge and making the decisions," she was explaining as they all carefully stopped to rest, retrieving their waterskins to take small sips, lips dry and chapped. "We hear little from Vaile and Vaile is safe enough I think. They don't care what we get up to and we don't care too much about them. Moja is cause for concern in the south, my parents and brothers, the others in the court, they all think I'm too young to be involved in many of the discussions," Ilea's lips curled into a scowl before she wet her fingers to run across her lips before they cracked open and Tanis looked away, glad that her cheeks were reddened by the wind. "I've heard things though. Not much but Moja is more lenient than my family and Rella Regnai are comfortable with and the longer we go without hearing from Vaile, the more it upsets the balance of things."  
  
"We hear about Moja too, from the nomads." Tanis offered, tucking the waterskin away as she took the chance to remove her pack for a moment and stretch her tired limbs.  
  
"That is why we must take care with the dwarves, there are suspicions that they could have deals with Rella Regnai that we know nothing of. We are to go and ascertain the situation and report back as quickly as we can."  
  
"You think that it's the dwarves and elves from the west that are responsible for the earthquakes and tremors you felt." It wasn't a question and Ilea's dark look was enough of an answer.  
  
"It could be both or neither."  
  
"But there must be a good chance if your parents allowed it if they keep you out as you said but let you go investigate."  
  
"Like I said before, I look less suspicious and like less of a threat, a friendly visit for the sake of curiosity. We have housed dwarves before in the past when they wanted to study in Tishlen but not in my memory."  
  
"We could stir quite the hornet's nest," Oran said at long last, a worried look on her face as they got to their feet again. "If the western elves are as you say..."  
  
"I know. If I could I would go alone," she admitted, "I was the one who said I would go, neither of you asked to have a part in it."  
  
"Oran did," Tanis pointed out as she hefted her pack and secured it again, trying not to groan at the weight of it or when it disturbed loose snow that fell down the back of her neck. "But I would rather see this with my own two eyes to report back to my people too. The dwarves could tunnel up to us as well and even if things are bad now, conflict between elves or elves and dwarves will spill over into our communities too."  
  
"Still, if there had been another way, I would not have placed either of you in danger."  
  
Ilea did not sleep well on the mountain so they pushed on as long as they could each day until at last they made their way down and took a day to rest, Ilea curled up in the tent as Oran spread leaves and branches like a shield to keep the wind and cold from keeping her awake. Tanis curled by Oran's side, not asleep but half-awake, warm and comfortable.  
  
"Do you regret joining Ilea?" Oran asked, raising her arm to let Tanis nestle closer as the wind picked up once more. "Humans have even more cause to hate elves than nymphs do."  
  
"Honestly? If you had asked me before you joined us I would have said yes without hesitation."  
  
"And now?"  
  
"And now," Tanis smiled despite herself at the prompting, shaking her head, "it's hard to say."  
  
"I heard the argument you two had and I felt...something from when you entered the forest," it was an apology for the eavesdropping and interruption, no matter that Tanis and Ilea had been rather loud for the most part, "I could feel it in each step you took."  
  
"Ilea tried to be friends, I'd never been around an elf until I met her and I didn't want to come at first, it was my duty."  
  
"That means so much to your people, we know that. Especially Dragon Knights."  
  
"So you know then?"  
  
"What it really means?" Tanis nodded, holding her breath as she peered up awkwardly at the nymph's face. "We do. I do. We can feel something of it, especially in Borea. I don't know how or why, the Old Mother has never granted me the wisdom or given any answer, we simply know."  
  
"Maybe it's a memory from those who remember the war."  
  
"That was what I always like to think." She paused, a vine unfurling to twist this way and that. "Perhaps like is the wrong word," she amended and Tanis nodded. She might not understand the situation exactly but she knew it well enough. "So Ilea then."  
  
"What do you want me to say?" A rustling noise caught her attention and she turned to look at the tent sharply but with all the leaves and vines and branches that were a part of Oran, it was probably one of them that had caught her attention. "Things seem better than how they were when we first set out from Tishlen, maybe things got through to her, maybe," she sighed and swallowed; knowing what she had to say didn't make it any easier to admit, "I needed time to see her as a person and not as an elf. But she said some foolish things, she was more naïve than a child in some respects, like she'd seen nothing of the world." And she hadn't but she'd lived longer than Tanis and Oran put together, even with elven aging she had still had time to expand her horizons prior to their meeting. "It feels like a betrayal. To...not hate her."  
  
"Were you raised to hate elves?"  
  
"There's a thin line between hate and fear, you know that they still raid for slaves?" Oran nodded and Tanis sighed, tucking her knees tight against her chest. "We hid as children but they could have walked in and taken one of us. When I was in Tishlen I wondered if I'd see someone I knew or not, if someone thought they recognised me and I was so _angry_. The first elves I met were foul, they were rude but I was ready to be treated as less than them but we walked past a market where they were selling slaves and they laughed at me." She drew in a shaky breath and Oran's other hand reached out to curl around her shoulder, a creaking of wood and a low rumbling sound of comfort leaving her. "Then Ilea's family, Ilea especially, they were kind. Polite. Interested. They had slaves serving our meals but they sat me at their table and said they were entrusting me with the life of their daughter. She took me on a tour of the palace and the grounds, to meet her griffin, we sat in the gardens and I-"  
  
Oran watched her curiously, poking with one vine then another and another when Tanis shook her head after she cut herself off. "And then?"  
  
"And I liked her," she said carefully, staring straight ahead and hoping to Solace that Oran would mistake her flush for something else. "It was easier to ignore it in the palace but then it was the two of us and I know Ilea isn't her people, she wasn't even born then but she's an elf Oran, I don't even know the names of all the great dragons and _you_ know what being a Dragon Knight meant once. How close we were to them and I look at her and I see someone I might have been friends with in another life." Sighing, she rubbed at her face, feeling exhausted suddenly, or rather drained, a memory of training with magic lingering when they'd pulled their life energy from one another until they were heaps on the floor, unable to get up with the weight of their armour. "I don't know what to make of it, I just want it to be over so I can go back to Jormsen and never think about it again."  
  
"You seem like the type that wouldn't stop thinking about it."  
  
She opened her mouth to contradict Oran but the tent flap open and less rumpled than expected Ilea popped her head out.  
  
"Problem?" Oran asked as Tanis leant around her to get a better look at the elf but she shook her head, looking away quickly when she locked eyes with Tanis.  
  
"Thirsty. Do we need to ration this?"  
  
"No, there's enough snow and ice I can melt, we won't need to worry until we reach the dwarves."  
  
"Thank you. Are you-" she broke off, wetting her lips, still not quite looking up as she retreated into the tent again, "are you coming to bed soon?"  
  
She had to fight the urge to share a look with Oran, nodding after a moment. "Soon."  
  
"Well, um, good. Good."  
  
The tent closed and Tanis stoked the fire, keeping it away from Oran as the wind picked up.  
  
"Elves are strange," she muttered.  
  
"All of you are strange," Oran agreed cheerfully and her laughter sounded like birds exploding from a tree. "And you really should rest, even Dragon Knights need sleep, on you go."  
  
"You're not the Old Mother yet," Tanis threw over her shoulder once she had gotten to her feet and stretched, removing her armour to curl up by Ilea.  
  
" _Yet_ ," the nymph echoed, grinning and cackling when Tanis made a rude gesture before she disappeared.  
  
Ilea said nothing but she moved over, allowing Tanis to curl into part of the warm spot she'd left and even though it was unnecessary, Tanis stretched out next to her and fell asleep almost instantly.


	7. Chapter 7

The nightmare did not linger at the edges of her dreams the way it had before. Tonight it sank its teeth in and refused to let go.  
  
She walked down roughly hewn stone steps, down down down until her legs ached. She was shivering, clad only in a brown robe made of something that itched, her skin bare beneath it and she clutched it tighter around herself to keep warm. Her heart fluttered in her throat as she followed a figure in a similar robe to hers, someone old with a limp and she wanted to run down the steps but she had to follow them, had to keep pace with their shuffling gait as her stomach tied itself in knots. Her mouth tasted strange, her tongue numb and thick in her mouth, a sour taste beneath the honeyed mead she'd been given, even sweeter and headier than usual. She was getting warmer, heat radiating out from her belly but her fingertips and feet felt frozen and clumsy.  
  
She focussed on the glow of the torch, swaying without realising as she followed it down to a hall she'd never seen before. It looked old, older than the steps leading down to it. The walls were stone but it too seemed different to the walls of the Fangs, inside and out, some strange black stone that looked wet when the light hit it but there were no dripping sounds and when she staggered and used her hand to steady herself, it was dry and cool to the touch.  
  
"Tanis," a voice called, "Tanis it is time."  
  
There was a table, stone or wood, she couldn't tell. Her vision was swimming and she was too warm, her legs and arms heavy and they had to help her to the table, someone untying the cord that held the robe close and she was embarrassed, distantly, like something you did when you were drunk and only regretted fuller later when you were sober and trying to purge all the poison from your body the next morning. The robe was removed but it remained beneath her as she trembled, trying to speak but her mouth wouldn't move the way she wanted it to, a strangled sobbing moan escaping her. The hooded figures ignored her as her head swam, too many torches and she shut her eyes as they started to chant, words she knew but couldn't understand and she felt _wrong_. She couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Her eyes opened without her doing it and she was no longer the one in control as one raised a wickedly sharp knife, the voices around the room echoing and she was frightened, shivering even though her body was aflame, her heart pounded wildly until the knife slashed down in one fluid motion and time stopped.  
  
There was pain but she couldn't move away from it. It sliced clean through skin and muscle beneath her left breast and she swore she could feel it scrape across her ribs. Someone else took the knife from the figure who'd cut her, tears on her cheeks as the blood dripped down her chest and arm, soaking into the robe beneath her. Her lungs burned and she strained to move, to get away from them but another set of hands appeared and _tugged_ at the edges of the wound, tore it open wider to dip their hand inside her chest. The scream echoed inside her own chest as she struggled for breath, imagining that she could drum her heels. _Wake up Tanis_ , she whispered urgently but she could never wake up from this dream so easily. They were pulling at something, her ribs cracking, she couldn't breathe properly and they tugged again, hard. _It's your heart, Tanis, you know that._ It came away with a sound that made her want to throw up but she couldn't. She could only watch as they raised it high and the chanting reached a fever pitch as it still continued to contract and relax in their hands, passed around them until it reached the one who had cut her open. They raised it in their left hand before another heart was handed to them, larger and misshapen, a foreign ugly thing and they were no longer chanting, they were saying something she couldn't understand. Her body was coming back to her, her left hand raising to feel the edges of her wound, to dip _inside_ as she managed to cry out, wet and desperate in the back of her throat.  
  
_No one is going to help you. Wake up._  
  
Her hand was pushed down and someone had her by each leg, each wrist, another at her shoulders to hold them down as someone raised her head. Her heart was handed over to someone else and that great awful thing was coming closer and it was on fire. _They're going to put it inside. Wake up._ But there was no waking, only the inevitable, only her fear and the bone deep knowledge that they didn't care. Her back arched violently when she felt the heat of it, felt her skin blister and heard the sizzle of the blood and their grip was as sure as bands of iron as she tried to fight, a roar – not a human sound, not a scream or a shout, but an honest to Solace and Confgra and Ferrum and all the rest _roar_ \- tearing out of her throat. Her back arched higher until she was sure it would break and it didn't make sense, she was closer and closer to it and why was she still there, why was this happening, she should be dead, people didn't survive something like this and then it was inside. Her voice cracked and her mouth opened wide enough to hurt and they lowered her as the pain shot through her, the stench of burning flesh hitting her nostrils and there was a long horrible moment that might have lasted an eternity where she couldn't breathe, where she existed because they willed it before there was a violent jolt. Her ribs were no longer broken. Her flesh was meeting in the middle. The wound disappeared to be replaced by scar tissue, thick and raised and blackened like old meat, reminding her of the craggy ridges of the mountains bare of snow and the aftermath of an eruption, cooled lava.  
  
Someone was shaking her, shouting her name and she finally, _finally_ woke to Ilea above her, hands on her wrists as she screamed her name over and over until Tanis wrenched herself free, scrambling on all fours to the front of the tent where she threw herself out and promptly vomited until there was nothing left and her throat burned. She sobbed and coughed and spat, half her body in the tent and the other half out, struggling to hold herself up as Ilea rubbed her back and uttered soothing words, Oran awake and hurrying to hold her hair from her face until Tanis was done and shaking, cold and embarrassed, stinking and sweating.  
  
"Tanis?" Ilea croaked and she sounded terrified. "What happened?"  
  
"I can't tell you." It was the truth and that was what made it worse as she accepted someone a handful of snow from Oran to melt in her palms even as her tears evaporated on her cheeks, Ilea pulling her hand away with a gasp as Tanis stumbled out of the tent, just avoiding the pool of vomit. The elf followed, sinking her reddened palm into the snow with a hiss as Tanis swallowed the water to rinse her mouth, spitting until the taste was gone before she scrubbed at her face and sniffed pathetically. It had been years since she'd felt this humiliated. "Gerenthe, I can't- I-" She couldn't finish, another wave of nausea rising that had her bent forward, head between her knees.  
  
"She's burning up!" Ilea hissed, upset but she couldn't tell if she was worried or angry or both.  
  
"People with fire magic do that, you had to have noticed before now," Oran replied, still keeping out of the way to be safe.  
  
"Not like this!" Snow hit Tanis in the side and face as Ilea thrust out her palm, no longer as red but still recently burned.  
  
"Sorry," Tanis managed, "I can heal it. I never meant-"  
  
"Never mind that. What happened?"  
  
"Nightmare. Like before. Only," she retched and they were there, they were close and the knife was coming down but there was nothing more that would come up so she retched painfully until the heaves subsided once more. "Only worse."  
  
"But what happened?" Ilea asked again as Oran, after leaning close enough to feel the air and to see if it had cooled, wrapped Tanis in as gentle an embrace as a wood nymph was capable of.  
  
"I can't tell you." She hid her tears in Oran's shoulder, letting the nymph shush her and cradle her.  
  
"Is this-"  
  
"She said can't," Oran murmured, "not won't. Can't."  
  
When she lifted her head from Oran's shoulder to wipe at her eyes, what she saw on Ilea's face wasn't what she expected. No fury or pit but genuine concern and sympathy and confusion was soon replaced by understanding. Tanis turned away and tucked her head against Oran's shoulder, it felt safer to stay curled against the nymph until her breathing evened out and she washed her face again and took small sips of water, Ilea bustling around to actually clean up the vomit as best she could before she wrapped her cloak and Tanis' around her shoulders, tucking it in with great so as not to snag on Oran's branches. The three sat in silence, just the crackle of the fire and the world about them until Tanis could stand and wobble to the tent. Ilea hovered before she followed her in, eyes wide, looking as if she wanted to speak but kept thinking better of it. Tanis head hurt now like her eyes, throat and stomach; it had been so long since she last was ill that she'd forgotten just how miserable it was even without the added stress of a nightmare. The tent smelt of sweat and fear to her but Ilea made no mention of it as she let Tanis sleep under both cloaks, sitting with her back to the tent, knees drawn up. Tanis curled up miserably in a ball as she scrunched her eyes shut and ignored the sting, willing the earth to open up and swallow her and the memory.  
  
They set out late the next morning. Tanis had slept again but not well, tossing and turning, apparently mumbling nonsense to herself according to Ilea, afraid of having another nightmare. She wasn't a child anymore, she shouldn't still have nightmares like that and waking up to Ilea's wide eyes until she'd slipped out of the tent to sit with Oran hadn't helped matters. She'd had no stomach for breakfast but the elf and nymph had sided against her until she'd forced down some dried meat before they set off. They were close by now, two more days to reach the gateway to the dwarven empire in the north barring some sort of freak weather conditions and the part of her that had been eager to see an end to it, to get there and get back as soon as possible had become quieter. Now that they were close the reality of it was setting in. That whatever they faced in the dwarven empire, there would be no help, only the three of them alone in the darkness where even Ilea would be at a disadvantage. Nothing good ever happened in the dark. Ilea and Oran were happy enough to talk without much input from Tanis as she blearily followed after them, only stopping when a bear emerged from its lair to stretch and scent the air, none of them wanting to fight it so they waited, Oran lamenting that the time of year and the snow combined with her age prevented her from prodding at it to make sure it left them alone. They did the same later in the day with a pack of wolves and it was proof that the further west they went, the earlier the world woke from winter.  
  
Ilea frowned when she said as much and she knew why; it meant elves from Rella Regnai had a distinct advantage should it come to a more aggressive expansion of the borders.  
  
They ate more of their rations as they made camp that night, late enough that Ilea was the one who put the tent up when Tanis couldn't see well enough to tie knots properly, sitting down by Oran once more. She thought she would hate to be coddled by anyone but it wasn't as bad as she feared it would be. It had been when the elders and her teachers had been condescending that she'd rankled but being told no, please sit, I can do this, wasn't so bad and Oran wasn't warm exactly but she was someone to lean against. Ilea's cooking of dried meat wasn't so bad and they dipped into the stash of berries before they spoiled and some cheese, mashing the berries over the meat to make it taste like something other than boiled leather for a change, nibbling at the cubes of cheese. At least when it was so cold, even in their packs the food stayed fresher than it would elsewhere. Oran kept watch again when Tanis and Ilea crawled into the tent, squirming out of their armour, Tanis on her back and Ilea on her side facing her.  
  
"I'll try not to have another nightmare." Not just for Ilea's sake because though she was proving to have a stamina greater than Tanis expected for a princess, she'd need all the rest she could get before they entered the dwarven empire but for her own. These nightmares put her on edge, made her fearful of sleep and they always lurked in the day, ready to step forth from the shadows. She needed to be ready for what they would face too and she couldn't do it when even during the day she expected something to creep forth from the trees and tear into her chest again.  
  
"You can't control nightmares," Ilea replied, smiling kindly as she pillowed her cheek on her arm. "Are you sure you can't talk about them? Doesn't talking usually help?"  
  
"Talking about my nightmares would cause more harm than good," Tanis mumbled and caught a hint of Ilea's frown. "I can't explain it fully," at least it put a wry grin on her face, "I know, another can't but-"  
  
"You can't," Ilea finished, smiling too and for the first time without Oran, they laughed. "Do you want to talk about something else?"  
  
"Are you ready for this? It won't be long before we enter their empire now, we all need to be prepared for whatever they throw at us." Perhaps literally, she didn't know much of dwarves as they were now, only old stories and if Tishlen hadn't heard from them in so long then they were practically stumbling in blind.  
  
"Yes? No? Sometimes I think that I am and other times I'm wondering what I'm doing and why and wishing I was back at the palace with my family, practicing archery and riding Geir until the whole kingdom is little more than a speck in the distance." The confession came with a self-conscious smile and a shrug, Ilea rolling over onto her back. "I keep thinking there is more I could have done, delayed it until better weather, sent some sort of missive, let someone else go. But I was the one who wanted to find out, my mother taught me how to be diplomatic, I found out as much as I could from those who have actually spoken with the dwarves, the more recently the better. I might not have seen any battles or had training such as yours but this couldn't be entrusted to guards or to anyone else. It had to be me. My duty."  
  
"Duty is more trouble than it's worth sometimes," Tanis muttered and Ilea laughed again.  
  
"Agreed but the guilt never seems to understand. Duty is what sent you down the mountain and with me too."  
  
"If not me then someone else but my elders asked me first and it was not so much asking as it was a strong suggestion." Even then it had been the look in their eyes when they had spoken to her and she had known that she would be departing from Jormsen before they'd finished telling her the contents of the summons and she had a chance to actually speak. "I could not say no anymore than you could have seen anyone else here but yourself."  
  
"I feel like I'm missing out on something, being a Dragon Knight seems to be beyond anything you've told me." A wistful note entered her voice and Tanis dragged her gaze from Ilea's face to the roof of the tent.  
  
"We are what we are," she tried because Ilea could not know the truth of it, that a nymph knew wasn't entirely surprising but it still wasn't something to speak about fully, "and we are our people, our myths and our history. I don't know what else I can tell you."  
  
"Maybe it's the myth part, elves don't have what humans or nymphs have, we pray to no one, we are the masters of our own fate and destiny. And yours."  
  
It was the truth but the honesty of it and that Ilea had admitted it were welcome but she didn't know what to say, instead reaching out in the dark find Ilea's hand to squeeze. She felt the jump of her pulse as her fingers brushed Ilea's wrist when she let go and she rolled over onto her side, her own heart beating a little faster, too awake suddenly and too aware.  
  
"Sleep well," she murmured as she closed her eyes, hoping she could will herself to sleep without dreaming, listening to the rustling from behind her as Ilea settled herself.  
  
"You too, I'll wake you if I hear you starting to thrash or talk to yourself."  
  
"Gerenthe," Tanis yawned, too tired for the elven tongue and past caring as she recited an old training mantra to help her drift off.  
  
Her dreams were mercifully dark and empty.


	8. Chapter 8

It was evening when they finally found what had once been the road leading to the great gates of the dwarven empire's northern opening to the surface realm. It had fallen into disrepair at some point and not due to the weather the way the road leading to Tishlen had, turned to mud and great ruts of feet and precious few carts. Like the streets within Tishlen proper, the road was cobbled, or it had been, now the cobbles were cracked and gave way under their feet, even Oran stumbling as they crept closer to where the grand entrance loomed. It had been built centuries ago, long before war had ever ravaged Stjarnacado and still it stood though from the distance they were at and lacking Ilea's eyesight she couldn't tell just how well it had weathered the passage of time and the elements.  
  
"We're exposed," she muttered under her breath, casting a look about as she gripped the hilt of her sword tight.  
  
"No trees, they even tore up the roots," Oran added and Tanis swore that the rustling of her leaves sounded like a shiver.  
  
"Best to enter in the morning, we've found it for certain, we should take a moment, enjoy a last night out in the open," Ilea suggested and they about turned, more careful than they had been on the way up the pass, heading back down and retracing their footsteps in the snow to where they'd made camp the night before, retreating as far as a tiny patch of forest that stood alone and apart from everything else. None of them had spoken, Tanis for her part too unsettled, not sure why exactly but something akin to dread had filled her when she'd caught sight of the great doors and the damaged path. "I don't think it needs to be said but I'll say it anyway: that's a bad sign."  
  
"The path?" Oran asked and both Tanis and Ilea nodded as they sat, putting up the tent once more as Oran moved between trees, pressing close to rest her head against them.  "Why? The mountain was worse than that."  
  
"Dwarves are smiths and craftsmen," Tanis explained patiently as she pressed a peg into the hole from the night before, looking over her shoulder as the nymph stopped to listen. "Masters of it. I'm not a craftsmen but I know enough of my own people to know that they would never let something they had built fall into disrepair like that, not if they could help it."  
  
"If they let it get in such a state it means they aren't using it." Ilea continued, pulling on the line viciously. "Which means that the last time it was used must have been years ago."  
  
"Is that good or bad?"  
  
"Good in that they haven't been supplying Rella Regnai with anything," Ilea replied in response to Oran's question but she didn't look happy about it. "But there are other places the dwarves could emerge, we know they had far more entrances than these ones, they were built together for other races to use when they were visiting. In the war there were many places they could emerge from to fight and to supply weapons and armour." Ilea wore a pinched expression, surveying the tent with a critical eye.  
  
"Look, why don't we go hunt for whatever we can find, make some sort of decent meal and fill as many of the waterskins as we can?" Tanis suggested when Oran said nothing more and had started to hum, in the centre of the trees. She rifled through her pack for her filled waterskin and for the extras she'd brought, grabbing her bow and arrow as she jerked her head to a deeper part of the woods.  
  
"Why are we going?" Ilea whispered as she followed Tanis to another section of the woods, glancing back at Oran and the camp.  
  
"There were no trees and Oran is a young nymph, it was probably as hard for her to be away from anything familiar as it was for me to be in Tishlen. Worse," she amended, taking her bow in hand, "I can't feel other people the way Oran can feel plants and especially trees and that they ripped up those that they cut down and never planted anything else?"  
  
She didn't have to finish, Ilea nodding in understanding. "Then why leave that patch we camped at behind, it's not so very far away after all?"  
  
"Those were nymphs."  
  
It took a moment to realise that Ilea had not followed her and she stopped, lowering her bow and turning to face the elf. "Ilea?"  
  
The elf stood as if frozen, her bow held tightly in one fist as she stared ahead, her breathing shallow.  
  
"Ilea?" She tried again, reaching out with her free hand to take hold of the elf's upper arm. "What is it?"  
  
"We made our camp amongst what, a grave? A tomb?" She sounded eerily calm, simply confirming facts and Tanis wondered why it had set her off the way it had.  
  
"The nymphs wouldn't call it a tomb, they don't think of it as death exact-"  
  
"Then what do they think of it as Tanis?" Ilea interrupted.  
  
"You'd have to ask Oran if you wanted to be sure but the nymphs are the earth and the water and the living part of this world. They give themselves back to it when they get older and the knowledge is there in the forest. Their memories, their experiences. It's not like it is for us when we only have what was written down or maybe a portrait and possessions." She was envious, truth be told and Oran was right, there was a connection that nymphs and Dragon Knights shared that was so similar yet not but she would have to explain too much, would have to discuss the dreams and there was too much to do, too much that they had to put first. "Nymphs were killed during the war, you know that, same as my people but the nymphs tried to give themselves back to the world so that they wouldn't have to be parted from it. But many of them were."  
  
"We used their bodies to make the weapons we used to kill them." There was horror and pain evident in Ilea's voice and enough guilt to choke her. It was strange to think that not so long ago Tanis would have taken pleasure in it, would have done nothing to help Ilea's guilt but rather would have made it worse. Her own guilt at wanting to at least help Ilea realise the burden wasn't hers alone to bear was small, a quiet voice in the back of her head that she silenced.  
  
"Not you. Your parents I have no doubt and I do not know how old your brothers were but doubtless many of the people you know fought back then but that bow and those arrows are not from a nymph." She wasn't as sure about the origin of the weapons but she was sure Oran would have mentioned it if they'd been made of nymph wood. "You are who you are and what you are but you weren't even born then."  
  
"You were right. Everything that I am, it comes from what we did to your people, to the humans and the nymphs." She was crying, not a sound beyond the hitching of her breath but Tanis could see the tears on her cheeks and she bit back a sigh.  
  
"And now you _know_. You know that, you understand, you can see that you're part of a system that treats so many of us unfairly and when we make it through what is to come, you can do something about it." Although if they returned to Tishlen there was no guarantee she would do any such thing but maybe a suggestion would help.  
  
"You must hate me."  
  
"I don't know how I feel about you." It wasn't what she had told Oran, somewhere in the no man's land between the truth and a lie but they had more important things to worry about so she turned so Ilea couldn't see her face. "Try not to think about it, we need to eat a better meal in case it proves to be our last. The only thing that matters is getting into the dwarven empire and finding out what we can."

"Right." Ilea said quietly, following as Tanis began to head deeper into the trees, crouching low. "Right."  
  
Distracted as they were, a wild practically stumbled right into them and Tanis loosed her magic, blasts of ice at the legs as Ilea fired at it, sprinting hard and fast after it. It was faster than them, more sure on its feet but it was no match for them and with a final bleat it fell to the ground, Tanis grabbing the hind legs as Ilea grabbed the front. It hadn't been a long chase but it had felt good, her magic at her fingertips and she shared a wide smile with Ilea as they headed back to camp, pausing along the way to pick more winter berries. By now Ilea had learned enough of what was poisonous and what was not through Tanis and Oran's teachings on their journey and the thought of more than just meat and the last of the rations that wouldn't survive the journey sounded too good to pass up. They passed through a small stream where they set the goat down, filling the waterskins, Ilea catching a few fish too fast for Tanis' eyes to follow, hunkered low and stabbing at them with an arrow clutched in her fist. One slow crab was disturbed by them and Tanis grinned and made a grab for it, freezing the pincers shut before she held it aloft with a grin that was too smug for something so silly.  
  
"We don't have a pot to cook that in," Ilea commented as they shared the waterskins between them and picked up the goat, the return trip to the camp slower, weighed down with their ridiculous haul.  
  
"But we do have a pot, we just never actually needed it until now. You don't leave home without a pot."  
  
"We're actually going to have a proper meal?"  
  
Tanis laughed at the look of delight on Ilea's face. "As proper a meal as I can manage. It might be the last one for a while."  
  
"Or at all."  
  
"You tempt fate, only fools who invite their own doom do that and I would prefer - and I'm sure Oran would too – to make it out in one piece."  
  
"So I'm to be the fool on my own then?"  
  
"No, I'd prefer none of us to be fools because even if you're the fool, Oran and I are the ones following you and what would that make us?"  
Ilea laughed again and if Tanis stopped to think she would probably drop the goat and run, run hard and fast all the way back to Jormsen or beyond. "I'm glad it's both of you with me. You don't need to think of me as such and you can forget if you want but I've come to think of you as friends, true friends. You've opened my eyes in a way no one else has before. There are few elves my age and even fewer who have true motives to befriend me, it's about politics, about influence and being able to brag about it and none of them would dare to correct me."  
  
"That's because they wouldn't know any other sort of life either," Tanis pointed out, waving the crab at Oran as they drew close to the camp.  
  
"The brave hunters return!" The nymph called.  
  
"Do you ever find it strange that she has no issue with us hunting?" Ilea hissed and Tanis snorted so hard she choked, trying to wipe her hands before she remembered that they were full. "What?"  
  
"Oran is a _wood nymph_ , if anyone understands the necessity of hunting it would be her, she knows and so long as we never take too much and give back what we don't use or make sure not to waste it then she'll be happy. Check with her yourself if you don't believe me."  
  
Ilea did just that as Tanis handed over the crab to be held by Oran as she located her pot and rifled through Ilea's for anything else she would need.  
  
"Do you mind if I use the last of these herbs and the salt?" She asked, shaking the little box of salt at Ilea.  
  
"Go ahead, like you said, if this is a last meal before the dark then we should make the best of it, there's a skin of wine that we'll need to water down, I don't know why I never thought to say something about it until now."  
  
"You were withholding _wine_?"  
  
"Do you think wine would have helped until now?"  
  
Ilea had a point so Tanis set it to one side before looking around for Oran. "Where did she go?"  
  
"She wanted to wander with the trees, something about how it would be the longest she'd been without them and away from nature." Ilea was biting her lip as she started to skin the goat, her hands still not as sure as Tanis' were when she did such a thing but sure enough to be able to do it with confidence now. "Is it right?"  
  
"Letting her come with us?" Tanis guessed and Ilea nodded, returning her attention to the goat carcass. "Maybe not but we have to respect her right to make a decision so in that way, it's the right thing to do."  
  
"You're not happy about it either though," Ilea pointed out and Tanis sighed, returning to sit by her with all that they'd need for the moment.  
  
"I'm not happy about going in myself, neither are you so we all have that in common." She shrugged and set her foot down on the crab as it tried to make a slow escape from them, her smile grim. "Duty rarely cares for how we feel."  
  
"Grit your teeth and get on with it? What?" They were the wrongs words to say, not that Ilea could have known that but Tanis froze, flames dancing in her hands until she kindled the fire higher. "Tanis?"  
  
"Nothing. Someone said that to me once, a long time ago." Not so long ago. Barely seventeen and so angry it was a wonder she wasn't all fire and nothing else but equally afraid and betrayed, heartsick enough to want to run but she had stayed, hadn't she? She had done as they told her to. Grit your teeth. Get on with it. Do your duty. Then you can have what you want and be who you want to be.  
  
"You miss home."  
  
She did and she didn't. She missed the familiar faces and how it was simple there, not having to sit and wonder at why she treated Ilea as she did, if it was betrayal to enjoy her company or to think this and that of her, how she could get up every morning and know by now, more or less, what the day would hold. At the same time there was a freedom she'd never tasted before in being so far from their oversight where she could say what she liked and there was no one to answer to but for her companions. Real freedom, or at least the illusion of it was better out here. It had substance to it. "I miss the food," she replied at long last and it satisfied Ilea. And she did – she was a decent enough cook with what they had but there were people in Jormsen who really knew how to cook and the thought of a proper filling stew with bread fresh and hot from the oven made her mouth water as she looked over what they had to work with. The last of the bread that would hopefully feel less like iron once it cooked in the juices of their meal, a few crumbs of cheese to sprinkle over it and the herbs she'd gathered and that Ilea had been given. Ilea was used to palace food and Tanis had no idea how an elf stayed so slender on such a meal but this was close enough to Jormsen fare that she missed the communal halls more keenly. At least they'd managed a decent sort of last supper. The goat wasn't the biggest thing but the meat would be good and the crab would be welcome and the fish would be good for their fat, strange little ones that were the very few things to survive so well in the icy winter waters. When Oran returned finally she did so with a bundle of items cradled in her arms and vines including even more berries and mushrooms she had found, assuring Tanis they weren't going to poison them or have them seeing bright flashing lights and things that weren't there, waking up three days later naked.  
  
"Sounds like a story," Ilea commented after Oran handed them over and joined them to help prepare the meal; even though the nymph had no need to eat as they did, she enjoyed helping them and touching things, being part of the process as much as she could.  
  
"If you're picturing me running around the forest in the nude," Ilea flushed crimson from the roots of her hair to the tips of her ears and down her throat to her armour, hurrying to do something else, "then don't bother. I just found the poor bastard. Bloody idiot's lucky he didn't poison himself."  
  
"One of the nomads?" Oran asked but she was distracted by inspecting Ilea's face, poking at it and it only had the elf squirming more.  
  
"A new one, his first time away from the south. Do they even teach them anything down there?" There was no answer and Ilea tried to lean away from Oran's inspecting wooden fingers so far that she fell back and landed with a thump, Tanis and Oran laughing and doing absolutely nothing to help her back up. "Anyway, it's better to be safe than sorry with mushrooms or anything like that."  
  
"And berries." Oran added, at last using her vines to haul Ilea up so her hands could brush her off. "Oh and honey too sometimes?"  
  
"Honey?" Ilea echoed and Tanis bit her lip as she started to cook their meal. She'd heard such stories before and had been cautioned like all who would spend time in the woods but there was very little chance Ilea had ever heard the stories.  
  
Oran waggled her branches then Ilea let out a yelp as she was tugged forward and almost wrapped in them, practically on Oran's knee as she made herself as large as she could, blocking out as much of the light as possible. "All nymphs grow up to know this story, passed through the roots of the earth." Oran's voice was rich and powerful and even Tanis found herself listening as she did when the storytellers of Jormsen spoke and seemed to bring the story to life around them with just their voice and hands. Oran was the wood, she was the nymphs of old who had seen it all, she was the fallen and those who had given themselves back and she was the Old Mother who knew all, the very first and the eldest. "We nymphs of the wood and water could make the world turn against everyone and everything in it if we wanted to. As much as we can soothe the savage beast we can turn it rabid and feral with a hunger only human and elven flesh can sate. We could make it so the trees bore no fruit until everyone but us were gone but we remain and as one of us returns to the earth one way or another, one of us comes to life." Clearly Oran was relishing her chance to tell a story as it seemed the trees around them leaned in and Tanis couldn't resist making poking at the fire with her magic so it hissed and popped ominously, even summoning some lightning that crackled and made Ilea shriek and shoot her a dirty look once she'd recovered. "When the elves came into the woods and the dwarves too, intent on cutting them down and turning them to their own purposes, we decided to fight back. We can control what grows where and the elves in the forests knew little of them and depended on them not being so hostile."  
  
"You said honey, not bees."  
  
"I'm getting to that, let me have fun." Oran scowled and flicked the end of Ilea's nose with a branch. "There are some plants that are harmful to touch, others to ingest, some to inhale but sometimes it isn't until something else uses them that the effects become apparent. There are flowers that grow that bees will go to and it causes the bees no harm to produce honey but when someone else eats some of that honey? Bad things happen. They hallucinate. They sweat. They vomit and some of them go mad and start attacking one another. We realised we could use this because the honey smelled and tasted no different to normal honey so we encouraged blooms of the flowers and the elves saw the hives that were easy to take and gorged themselves."  
  
Ilea's face had gone grey, a hand clutched to her mouth as Oran pulled in her branches and returned to her normal size with a smile. "I think Tanis' people sometimes add a little bit to wine, don't they?"  
  
"Not even half a thimbleful," Tanis admitted. "Come on, you've scared her half to death."  
  
It turned out that Oran had procured honey, taking a great amount of relish in dipping her hand inside one of the hollows of her torso to produce a dripping comb, admitting that bees had slumbered in her body as shelter though only little ones as she was only young herself. It took some coaxing from Ilea but in the end they had a feast. The crab and the fish cooked in the pot with some crumbs of cheese, the bread they had to have Oran rip apart for them with a little wine, the mushrooms roasted by the fire same as the meat, salted and slathered in honey, the herbs sprinkled over it as they passed the wine around, Oran happy enough to try some too until it made her hiccup violently. They drank until Tanis could feel a warmth suffusing through her and Ilea had started to giggle at everything she heard, wobbling and swaying. Eventually once all the food was eaten and everything cleaned and packed away ready for the morning, she and Ilea bid Oran goodnight and crawled into the tent together. One of them, or maybe both when they were giggling and Tanis wasn't sure of whose limbs belonged where, tripped and knocked into the other and suddenly she was on her back with Ilea on top of her, breath hot against her ear as she laughed and laughed.  
  
"Sorry," she wheezed, not sounding sorry at all and even though it felt like all the breath was being forced from her lungs, Tanis didn't bother to move her, snorting instead.  
  
"Move you lump," she insisted when a bony elbow collided with her ribs.  
  
"Comfy." But then she squirmed, pursing her lips into a pout that only made Tanis poke at them with a grin. "Well, your breastplate is hurting me, maybe if I move-" She never finished, instead rolling too far resulting in flailing before she landed on her back. "Well, I suppose that solves it!" Again she laughed and Tanis sighed, attempting to sit up more than once to take off her boots and socks, wiggling her bare toes.  
  
"If only your mother could see you now."  
  
"She'd be scandalised," Ilea crowed, rolling onto her side as Tanis did the same, facing one another, Ilea's lips berry dark from the wine still.  
  
"At you being drunk?"  
  
"No, well, perhaps. She would expect better of me or to at least be alone."  
  
"Not the rolling around with a human part?"  
  
Ilea snorted and laughed, resting her head on Tanis' shoulder. "There's nothing that forbids that you know, we would never speak of it openly, no citizen would but for royalty it would be their right but if word got back to Rella Regnai then it would be scandal. Lots of bluster and _consorting_ and—and—I can't remember the what else, there was a speech when I was younger about how to behave and what I could and couldn't do."  
  
"So humans and elves then?" She waggled her eyebrows to get her point, unsure how she wanted to phrase it exactly.  
  
"I think some end up very fond of one another, in households. It's...it's a thing you don't talk about much, good or bad. Rumours."  
  
Tanis nodded, the thought unsettling but her head felt too heavy for her to think it through all the way. "Some of the nomads say the same thing, usually about the south."  
  
"I don't see what would be so wrong with it, the war was a long time ago, we're not all that different. We live longer, we've got pointy ears," it was silly to reach out to poke one but Tanis did and Ilea gasped, somehow managing to turn an even darker shade of red, "and you've got magic."  
  
"We had dragons," Tanis said and Ilea nodded then paused.  
  
"It's probably about babies."  
  
"It's _always_ about them in the end," Tanis agreed, too drunk to think better of it.  
  
"Your people have babies and my people don't really have them at all."  
  
An interesting point but the walls of the tent seemed to close in about them so Tanis shook her head. "No more talk of babies."  
  
Ilea nodded her agreement, stretching and almost punching Tanis in the mouth, giggling out an apology that Tanis waved away or tried to, only really managing to flick Ilea's nose with her fingers. "I," Ilea began, clearing her throat and sound very serious, "respect you. Much more than I thought I would."  
  
"I don't hate you completely either," Tanis admitted. It could be their last night on earth, free beneath the starts, might as well admit what she could and go to the afterlife with as few regrets and as much honesty as possible, it seemed like the right thing to do.  
  
"I heard you and Oran talking that night, I tried not to but I was awake and I can hear _e_ verything," Ilea admitted, dragging the start of the word out, accompanied by an expansive gesture. Her face crumpled and her hand reached out to grab Tanis', squeezing tightly. "I'm sorry."  
  
"For listening?"  
  
"No. Yes. It couldn't be helped, but I'm sorry for...for me. For what has been done to you both-"  
  
"It was not done by your hand," Tanis interrupted, tracing a line down the centre of Ilea's palm, the skin softer from the protective cover of her archery glove, forgetting herself until she looked up from where their fingertips touched and saw Ilea biting her lip. When she tried to let go, the elf linked their fingers together and squeezed again, trapping Tanis and they were so close she could smell the wine on Ilea's breath.  
  
"So we are friends?"  
  
She couldn't speak, something seizing her throat to strangle her, one voice whispering of duty and history, of all that Ilea stood for with the voice of all the elders turned to one low moaning thing, the other her own voice reminding her that they might die, that she could choose, that this was a choice she could make for herself with no one else to see and to pass judgement. "I don't know," she managed, desperate and breathless, heart hammering in her throat. "I don't know what this is, I don't know what I want it to be or what I _think_ I should want it to be."  
  
Ilea's free hand had come to rest on Tanis' side, fingers splayed out over her ribs. "I've come to care for you – both of you – a great deal. I know there's much more I should do but I-"  
  
Something desperate and wild must have taken hold of Tanis because she closed the gap between them, her lips meeting Ilea's, neither of them moving as Ilea stiffened, her hands gripping Tanis harder for a moment but as Tanis went to pull away, she deepened it. It was Ilea who pulled Tanis so she was on top instead of pushing her to the side as she had feared, a human forgetting her place but they'd moved beyond that hadn't they? Ilea didn't care, at least here in the wilds away from all the world and the nomads perhaps had been more right than they knew, even so close as Tishlen. Ilea moaned when they had to break the kiss to breathe, her hands beneath the loose shirt Tanis had worn beneath her armour, fingers at her back and thumbs rubbing circles on her hips as Tanis cupped her face in her hands. It would be so easy to take advantage of it if she wanted to. Ilea had no magic and though fast she was not as strong as Tanis who lay on top of her. But she didn't want to even though it would have allowed her to run and for everyone to blame it on dwarves or the west if they wanted, no one else having to know what became of them as Tanis ran to a place where no one knew her name and Oran returned to the forest to keep the secret.  
  
All she wanted to do was to make Ilea moan like that again. Somehow it felt more dangerous than what they were about to face.  
  
They were still staring at one another, neither of them moving, unwilling or unable to Tanis couldn't say until at last she rolled off Ilea and onto her back, the roar of her heart in her ears drowning out everything else. She'd kissed her. She'd kissed an elf. She'd kissed a princess. Ilea had kissed back but it had been her to start it and she couldn't help touching her lips with her fingers, wondering if they'd somehow feel different. She couldn't look at Ilea, not when she could still feel her phantom fingertips at her back and her hips so when a hand wrapped around her wrist she almost leapt out of her skin, only just managing to smother her shout.  
  
"I-" They both said at the same time but there was no laughter as there might have been. Tanis didn't even feel drunk now though she would be more than willing to blame it on that even if she usually never did anything so foolish when drunk.  
  
"We should sleep," she said quickly and Ilea nodded.  
  
"Sleep, yes, early start, long day," the elf agreed and there was a moment of adjustment, reaching for weapons and undressing as much as they dared and Tanis might have let her fingertips trail up from where Ilea's had been as she removed her shirt until they ghosted over the scar and a flash of pain and shame hit her at once. Ilea would never understand the scar for if Tanis could barely stand to touch it after all these years, same as the faded silver marks on her belly then what would Ilea make of them? If humans lovers were asked not to linger when most of them already knew why, what would she have made of it if Tanis had pulled her hands away as they explored?  
  
Why was she even thinking about Ilea undressing her? It was one kiss fuelled by wine, uncertainty and mutual respect at the very most she told herself. She had to sleep and put it out of her mind to focus on what was to come in the morning. If she dreamt of Ilea beneath her, arching her back and gasping as Tanis kissed her way down between her small breasts then no one needed to know but her.  
  
They were far better than the nightmares, if more confusing.


	9. Chapter 9

At first light they set off up the path they had taken the day before. It was safe to say that none of them had slept as well as they should have. Oran had an excuse, so far from home and about to enter a place devoid of any sort of life she had ever had meaningful contact with, a place where even the surrounding area had been mostly stripped of life by those who had fouled rivers and used the forests and her own kin to help build more weapons to wipe them out. Tanis and Ilea had no such excuse. They had eaten well, they had shared wine and that should have been enough if they had left it at that, to sleep with full bellies and a pleasant warm to ward off the chill of the wilds but no, they had been fools. They'd dressed in silence but she'd felt Ilea's eyes on her and she'd glanced over her shoulder as well and helping with straps, buckles and fastenings in the dark with as little conversation as possible. Neither of them had eaten, both for the sake of preserving as much of the food as possible and because Tanis at least felt sick at the thought of what they were about to do. Oran kept her leaves tucked close about herself, branches and vines tucked in, looking very young and small and if Tanis had to guess, she was probably very much afraid but unwilling or unable to say so. It was short work to pack up the camp, leaving it as though they had never been there save the bare patch amongst the snow they'd cleared for the fire and the tent. Weapons within easy reach and with whatever documents Ilea had, they set off, easily finding the road once again. They walked slowly, the sun rising to turn the world a shocking red that stung the eyes to look at, the snow before them glittering as they picked their way up the road, avoiding as many of the loose stones as they could. More than once they slipped, even prepared for it as they were. A squabbling pair of crows swooped past them, probably arguing over the remains they'd left not too far from camp. All too soon they had finished the climb up to the entrance hall of the dwarven empire, a strange sort of entranceway. A building of stone with stained glass windows that had survived the passage of time though the colours had faded and much of the metal had discoloured and rusted away, more worrying signs. These entrances had been built so that there was a place for humans and elves originally to meet with the dwarves who rose up to the surface but found the light to be unbearable. The stone was an appeal to the dwarves so they would feel comfortable, the windows to allow for enough light to see by. The doors were wood and had once been painted a dark blue that bordered on purple but it had chipped away and faded like the windows, the metal fittings in a similar state to the windowpanes.  
  
Tanis was about to voice her concerns about the doors actually opening when she noticed Oran had followed behind, her head downcast. "Oran?" She tried, turning and heading back down the path, Ilea following her until she could wrap her hands around the nymphs arms to pull them away from her face enough to look her in the eye. "Do you need a moment?" There was no response and they'd both seen her touching the trees that had once been nymphs where they'd made camp this morning as they'd departed, averting their eyes to give her a semblance of privacy.  
  
"You don't need to come Oran," Ilea said gently, trying to find somewhere to pat the nymph's side where her fingers wouldn't dip into one of the hollows.  
  
"There is no shame in being afraid and changing your mind," Tanis added because while she respected Oran's right to join them and had no wish to coddle the nymph, she had no duty the way she and Ilea did. "You can wait for us back where we made camp or you can return to Borea if you wish. Whatever you decide, it _must_ be your choice."  
  
"This will be a foul place," Ilea continued when Tanis stopped, Oran straightening a touch, her vines unfurling. "There will be no sun and the things that grow will be strange and unlike what you know. We'll be too deep even for the roots to be within your reach."  
  
"No," Oran spoke firmly, unclenching her fists at last as she stood tall, giving herself a shake. "I'm scared but I have both of you with me, I want to come. I want to see this with my own eyes." With that, she tugged them both close, arms and vines surrounding them until it almost hurt before she let go.  
  
"Let's hope the door isn't locked," Tanis muttered and Ilea snorted, shaking her head.  
  
Fortunately for them the doors were unlocked though the ancient hinges screamed in protest as they hauled on the handles, red-brown rust staining their fingertips until Oran planted her roots in the ground and _pulled_ until at last the doors gave way and they staggered back. Not a good sign.  
  
"At least this means they aren't working with the elves in Rella Regnai?" Oran offered as they stepped inside, coughing at the dust that hung in the air, a thick layer covering the insides of the windows and if the doors had shut then it would have been too dark for Tanis to see much more than a foot in front of her.  
  
"Maybe not, they have other entrances, other ways to get in and out." Even hushed as it was, Ilea's voice still echoed as they peered around through a building that looked as though it hadn't seen a single occupant in decades just as Ilea had feared.  
  
"The door to the below should be beneath our feet," Tanis murmured, sliding a foot forward nervously, imagining herself suddenly plunging down down down through the dark forever until she reached the fiery pits below. Her people had a story of how all the world was carried on a dragon's back, all the world forming their scales, a dragon no other had ever seen and though she longed to see a living dragon with her own eyes, she had no desire to be the first to glimpse this one for a moment before the flesh melted clean off her bones.  
  
"The dwarves can't hear so well, but they can feel the vibration of the door. Hopefully one of them will come." Ilea still paced nervously, keeping to the edges of the room until soon they stood in the light that spilled in through the door, Oran's vines reaching out for them, binding them close to one another.  
  
"Maybe we'll be lucky and they'll all be gone down there."  
  
"Tanis!" Oran and Ilea echoed together and she shrugged, looking from one to the other.  
  
"What? Do any of us want to go down there?" She asked and there was no answer. "As I thought."  
  
"How long do we wait then?" Oran asked, extending her branches into the sun while she still could.  
  
"Usually we entertained them but they would feel it somehow then a dwarf would come up and you'd be escorted down. People never actually bothered to record this part, unfortunately."  
  
"Wonderful." She rolled her eyes, sighing. "So how long do we wait?"  
  
The answer came from below, a rumbling beneath their feet that had Oran's vines gripping tight enough to hurt but Tanis had grabbed her too, her nails sinking into the first layer of bark as she held her breath. It travelled up through her feet to set her teeth on edge and she had to fight the urge to squeeze her eyes shut, hardly daring to breathe. There was a great grinding noise, a scream similar to the hinges of the door filling the air and Ilea was hissing, her hands clamped over her ears; if it was unbearable for Tanis and Oran, it had to be torture for the elf, the hiss turning into an anguished whine noise until finally there was another banging thump as clouds of dust from the floor were disturbed. Tanis coughed until her throat burned, eyes watering before the smell hit. A musty sort of smell, dying flowers and something she couldn't name but it made her gag and retch.  
  
"The door," someone growled, not Ilea or Oran but an unfamiliar voice. "The door! Close it!" It rose to a shout and taking the chance to suck in a breath of clean air along with Oran as they tugged on the door handles again and let it fall closed behind them, plunging them into near total darkness. It was darker than the Fangs, than the forest at night but she took some comfort in the fact that Ilea would be able to see just as comfortably in this light. "Who are you, why are you here?" The voice was angry and suspicious, a guttural voice that grated on her already, like someone who needed to clear their throat.  
  
"I," Ilea coughed again and sounded as though she was trying to avoid breathing in through her nose as she tried to introduce herself, "am Ilea, crown princess of Tishlen and I am accompanied-"  
  
"Spare me." The interruption caught her Ilea by surprise, Tanis squinting at her in the darkness as she floundered. "Why. Are you. _Here_."  
  
Sensing trouble, Tanis stepped forward, clearing her throat. "We come here on a journey of curiosity; Ilea wished to explore the marvels of the dwarven kingdom and myself and Oran came to accompany her."  
  
"Human?" At last Tanis' eyes had adjusted to the dark well enough to get a proper look at a dwarf in the flesh for the first time. It was a strange creature, even paler than her and perhaps level with her hip, the tiny beady eyes blinking rapidly and watering. It looked lumpy too, misshapen but muscular, hands curled like claws and she was sure she could see a glimmer of sharp teeth. The skin wasn't just pale, she realised when she stared harder, straining her eyes, it looked bloodless, it looked _dead_ and she remembered what she had been taught when she was young about the dwarves and the fact that they couldn't feel pain. "And what's that...a wood nymph?" Oran rustled nervously and Tanis nodded before she remembered how poor a dwarf's vision was, non-existent in many cases.  
  
"Yes, Tanis is from Jormsen and serves as a protector as befitting my status," Ilea answered, sounding as though she'd recovered her confidence, "Oran we met along the way."  
  
"An elf, a human and a wood nymph all want to come exploring do they?"  
  
"We do," Tanis replied this time, glancing over to Ilea sharply.  
  
"Oh! We have a letter from my parents, the king and queen of Tishlen."  
  
"You'll be wanting to come below then?" They said yes in unison and the dwarf sighed heavily, muttering something Tanis didn't understand before he stamped hard with his right foot, sounding out some sort of rhythm. He crouched low, hands to the floor then he got to his feet – it might not be a he, she had no clue what a dwarf woman might look like in the first place – and beckoned for them to follow. Peering down into the dark, Tanis cast one last look around before she followed first.  
  
"I should-"  
  
"I'm the one protecting you, remember? I go first Ilea." Ilea had her bow too, hardly a weapon she could wield with one hand compared to Tanis and her magic or even her sword or dagger.  
  
"Be careful," Ilea whispered and Tanis nodded before she watched where the dwarf went, resisting the urge to cup magic in one hand, sure that would backfire spectacularly.  She didn't trust the dwarf and how sour he or it had been just upon the first meeting.  
  
"Solace watch over me," she said to herself before she took a seat on the edge of the hole the dwarf had revealed, using her feet to find the ladder, carefully beginning the descent. "Might I ask how you close the hatch above us?"  
  
"It's got something like a rope," the dwarf explained as Tanis kept her eyes on her hands, listening to Ilea then Oran climbing down. "But when it's closed it's a pole, not the sort of smithing _your_ folk ever came up with." The laugh that followed was a wet cackle, making Tanis grit her teeth, continuing the climb as the air became colder and colder, the ladder more slippery beneath her fingers. Drips echoed about them and the smell that had filled the room when the dwarf had appeared was worse now, cloying and heavy. Not only that but there was a visible mist, helping her to realise that it wasn't as dark as she thought but she didn't dare look around until at long last her feet touched the ground.  
  
Stepping away from the ladder, the dwarf waited for them all to finish the climb as Tanis finally took her first look at the northern portion of the dwarven empire. There were few stories that spoke much of the dwarven empire itself for humans had never been fully welcome there then most of the stories had been about the horror that had sprouted beneath their feet. The belly of the void. Now that her eyes had adjusted, it was not as dark as she had thought or at least it wasn't all-consuming though the fact that she could only see so far did nothing to set her mind at ease. They stood on a rocky outcrop allowing them a view of a network of tunnels and chasms that sprawled out before them, stalagmites rising from the floor of the caves like the teeth of some savage beast, stalactites dripping and in many places they had fused together over time. From the walls of the cavern strange plants grew that looked like mushrooms or some sort of fungus several times her size, patches spreading out and they glowed faintly. Looking up, she saw yet more light and had to remind herself that they were not in the open, tiny spots of blue, white and purple against the black of the cave ceiling so like stars that she forgot her horror for a moment and stared up at them in wonder. The smell persisted though and she wished she could draw her cloak up over her nose and mouth to help ward it off and some of it at least had to come from the red lava that ran in great long rivers with no one becoming alarmed, pockets of it coated with blue flames. She envied Ilea her elven sight and not simply because it allowed her to see so much further than Tanis from a practical standpoint. The good part of this journey so far had been seeing new forests, new places, a rare sort of chance Tanis never had in Jormsen and she might not have been a scholar but there was something fascinating about being the first living human to ever bear witness to the dwarven empire.  
  
"This way," the dwarf growled as soon as all three of them were down from the ladder, Oran making a strange sound that had Tanis turning to her.  
  
"Oran?"  
  
"This way!" The dwarf repeated, sharper this time but Tanis waited for Oran to nod before she followed on, her hand clutched tight about the hilt of her sword. Her hands groped blindly for a railing as she lost her footing more than once, the ground slippery and slick beneath her feet but each time Oran reached out with vines and branches, helping her to stay upright and not land in a heap and either hurt herself or, even worse, make a scene before the dwarves. "Keep out of everyone's way, no dawdling, you must come, must state your business."  
  
"Might I ask who you are then?" Ilea asked, catching up to walk side by side with Tanis behind the dwarf, Oran bringing up the rear but pressed close. A layer of what Tanis hoped was only water covered the ground, not enough to splash but enough to make it treacherous underfoot if you didn't pay attention.  
  
"Elves don't care," the dwarf muttered again and Ilea shared a look of surprise with Tanis, almost as if her pride had been wounded. "Come poking your noses in, bringing a tree-"  
  
"She's not a tree, she's a wood nymph," Tanis corrected, unable to help herself. The dwarf only made a rude sound so Tanis sighed and let Ilea take the lead with the conversation.  
  
"I apologise but I have heard many stories of the works of the dwarves and wished to see them with my own eyes."  
  
"So why the human and the nymph?"  
  
"Tanis is here for my protection – I am a daughter of the royal line of Tishlen, I would not be allowed to leave without an escort and one knight would be less obtrusive than a cadre of guards," Ilea explained, sounding achingly formal compared to the way she'd spoken as they'd marched on, a few words of Tanis' tongue filtering into her speech until they no longer came out wrong on her tongue. "Oran we met on our journey and she expressed a desire to see your empire with her own eyes too."  
  
The dwarf said nothing more and instead beckoned them to follow as they weaved through a network of tunnels, having to stoop low and more than once hair or clothes snagged on stalactites or sections of the ceiling the dwarves had neglected to make smooth. They felt no pain and no dwarf would ever stand so tall so Tanis doubted it was much of a priority. It was a tight squeeze however and she remembered her nightmares and wondered if the thought of this moment had been what caused them for the first time in so long. She didn't realise she was holding her breath until Ilea prodded her in the side to remind her, telling Oran the same. If the dwarf heard then they did not care enough to comment on it until at last they passed through the tunnels and back into the same sort of light that they had been in before. She had no idea what way they had travelled but here the air was less foul to the senses or at the very least it was a smell she knew; metal, sharp and unmistakable, the way sections of the Fangs smelt, the odour that clung to Torrin at the end of the day. All around them there was clanging and hammering. Clearly the heart of the dwarven community were the forges and it was unexpectedly familiar somehow. What would Torrin think of this? Knowing him he'd probably only want to compare how to fold steel or something he'd tried explaining to Tanis once before she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder, at least her excuse back then for the exhaustion had been understood. Not something to think about now though as the dwarf told them to wait and that they did, moving out of the way if a dwarf came too close. They must have known they were there, perhaps there had been some sort of summons or they could sense them but most didn't even look their direction yet they knew where to go, no one bumping into anyone or anything. Some could see though and she fought the urge to squirm under their scrutiny, keeping her eyes on where the dwarf had disappeared off to. They wore the plainest clothes she had ever seen – it begged the question as to how they even got clothes, what could survive down here, what did they use for leather or fabric so far down? – that all looked to be more or less the same, smocks of dark colour with shirts or leggings beneath them, foot wraps instead of shoes. She still couldn't make out any sort of difference between men and women, not in the ways she knew, the obvious sort of ways. None of them spoke and Tanis, Ilea and Oran didn't dare to breathe a word until at last the dwarf from before returned and a hush fell over the area, even the noise of the forge tapering off. Huge stacks of strange wooden crates were everywhere though and it did beg the question as to how they kept themselves fed beneath here, how they made their clothes.  
  
A small group of dwarves had appeared after the first one, these dwarves dressed more grandly in what looked like fur and iron armour, circlets of jewels and precious metals upon their brow. Automatically Tanis and Ilea bowed, Tanis bowing deeper out of habit and after a moment she heard and felt Oran doing likewise. One dwarf stepped forward, holding a staff in their meaty hands, every other dwarf completely still and staring in their direction.  
  
"Ilea of Tishlen?" The dwarf said, the voice even deeper than the one before, shuffling forward as they let go of the staff with one hand to grab for Ilea's. She flinched and Tanis started to pull her sword from her sheathe until all the dwarf did was sniff at Ilea's palm. "And the others."  
  
"Tanis of Jormsen," she said quickly and steeled herself for her hand being grabbed, a shiver going down her spine at the feel of that hand on hers. Papery skin but clammy and this close she could at last see that they had no nose to speak of, only two long slitted nostrils that breathed damp air onto her palm.  
  
The dwarf moved on again, humming in interest when Oran reached out a hand. "Oran of Borea," the nymph whispered, adopting the same manner of address as the other two.  
  
"Well, you told us the truth, unlikely as it seemed." The dwarf didn't sound happy but the first dwarf who had met them wore a small grin of triumph, lips like two pale worms and far too many teeth. She never wanted to see a dwarf smile again. "Your purpose?"  
  
"Curiosity. It is my first time so far from home and I thought it would be something to see your great empire with my own eyes," Ilea explained, adopting the heirs of a royal woman once more. "It has been far too long since we in Tishlen have heard from you," she continued after a careful pause to make sure that they did not take umbrage at her phrasing but Tanis at least had no idea how to read their expressions, "and I found that to be sad indeed when once our people enjoyed such a close alliance."  
  
The flattery had worked it seemed though because the dwarves all smiled and the one who had inspected them raised the staff and banged it hard on the ground, vibrations resonating through the cavern. "Then be welcome and enjoy all the empire of the dwarves have to offer though not a one of your people will ever master the world as we have. We toil in the dark but it was _we_ who allowed the world to be as it is now!"  
  
A great cheer went up around them, the clanging of hammers resuming but as the dwarves celebrated, Tanis shared a look with her companions and she knew their thoughts without saying a word: the sooner they found out what they needed, the better.  
  
Once the clamour had calmed down they were escorted into a hall carved into the side of the mountain, this one all long straight lines, the stone smooth and polished so it glittered, set with gold and jewels with a strange sort of garden in the centre. Lava bubbled through a black fountain and some sort of fungus or lichen spread across the ground, a pathway leading up to what had to be a palace. It was like the Fangs beneath the earth. The doorway was high, none of them having to stoop this time and it was well lit with torches high on the walls and just like the Fangs, if you had walked past it, you would have thought it some strange doorway or sculpture so she allowed herself a smile when she saw the wonder or Ilea and Oran's faces as they stepped into the grand entrance hall and along the walkway to another doorway. Everything was the same polished stone and nothing at all like the places they had seen so far; unlike Tishlen where the palace was grand but the homes were also built to a high standard, this reminded Tanis of Jormsen, an uncomfortable realisation. Their footsteps were hushed as the dwarf that had to be in charge or some position of power told them of the stone they'd carved this hall from, how it had housed generations of them since long before the war. There was a particular relish and delight at having not just a human but also a nymph present and Ilea was the one who winced most whenever a new detail came up. How they had improved upon anything a human had learned and how their work had come from their own two hands, how their work was _honest_ in a way human smithing was not. This dwarf was able to see and had inspected the armour Tanis wore, sniffing derisively at it. It was Ilea who set her harm on Tanis' arm when she'd tensed, gritting her teeth at the insult, not so much to her people but to Torrin and to all the other smiths who worked so hard, the miners who delved deep into the mountains to find ore to work with and all too often simply had to melt down old things to make them new again. It was an insult to Ferrum, the great dragon of the forge but this dwarf would not understand that.  
  
There was no feast when they were presented to the rest of the assembly of dwarves, just a lot of chattering in a language none of them could understand, no speeches. It was nothing like leaving Jormsen or her time in Tishlen and she looked to Ilea helplessly, just about catching the minute shrug she dared to give, as if to say her guess was as good as any. These dwarves could all see, Tanis was sure of it, staring with rheumy eyes at them. Away from the rest of the populace as they stood before figures sat in grand thrones that made them appear far larger than they were, Ilea stepped forward once again, clearing her throat.  
  
"There is another reason for our visit," Ilea began and the dwarves fell to chattering amongst themselves, the sound unlike anything Tanis had heard come from a person before. It reminded her of bats, unexpected when the voices of the dwarves sounded so low like the scrape of stone on stone yet somehow wet at the same time.  
  
They calmed and the first one pointed their staff over at Ilea, small eyes narrowed to unfriendly black pits. "We _knew_ the elves had no true curiosity." The voice was now a hiss, a chorus of agreement echoed by the rest.  
  
"We had no wish to cause alarm amongst your people by announcing it so freely." She waited to allow the dwarves to speak but when they remained silent she continued. "Those of us in Tishlen-"  
  
"And Borea," Oran whispered, her voice the sigh of wind in the leaves at the start of spring.  
  
"And Borea," Ilea amended, Tanis preferring to stay silent when she still rankled at the insults from the dwarves. The last thing any of them needed was for her temper to get the better of her as it so often did. "We have felt tremors, earthquakes, not violent enough to cause much damage but we wanted to know if you had felt them too? If there are any who know of the earth and how stone moves it would be the dwarves."  
  
It was not chattering this time but a murmur Tanis couldn't follow, the dwarves conferring with one another, faces turned away before they finally answered. "We have felt no tremors, there is no damage and as you can see our people are happy and calm, working normally. Do you think that would be the case if there had been anything as you described?"  
  
"No but-" Ilea tried only to be cut off, the staff pointed at her once more.  
  
"You must have been mistaken," the dwarf intoned and Ilea glanced over at Tanis out the side of her eye, concern etched into her features.  
  
"But we have felt it too and our roots grow deep into the earth!" Oran protested in alarm, the most she had said since they descended.  
  
"You are _mistaken_ ," the dwarf repeated and this time there could be no debate that it was a stern warning. "You are a tree that has grown too far but you are still a tree. Now, someone will show you to your accommodations, I am sure you would like the chance to rest before you return to the surface."  
  
"What?" It was Tanis who shouted before anyone could stop her, stepping forward only to stop when the dwarves hissed and did _something_ with their teeth to make a racket that had the hairs standing on the back of her neck. The dwarves reacted instantly, rising to their feet and banging their staffs until the sound echoed throughout the hall.  
  
"Your curiosity related to the tremors and we know nothing. That is all. So you can return to the surface with your answers to those who sent you, we will allow you to stay the night and rest."  
  
They were dismissed before Tanis could say more, swept away by more dwarves, back out the door they had entered, hemmed in and directed through tunnel after tunnel. It was even wetter, the air colder and more foul, their questions and protests going unanswered until they were presented with what were supposedly their chambers for the night. Dark and dank, with the distinct impression they hadn't been cleaned in months and hadn't been used in far longer, Tanis counted herself lucky they hadn't just had their throats cut already. Waiting until the dwarves had gone, she folded her arms and sighed, trying not to touch anything in the room.  
  
"Does this feel more like a dungeon than the guest chambers to anyone?" She muttered, rolling her eyes as Ilea sighed.  
  
"We need a new plan," the elf sighed and all three of them nodded in agreement but actually coming up with one took far longer to agree on.  
  
"I say we just go for it." Tanis said after at least an hour of trying to plan that had gotten them nowhere but for talking in circles.  
  
"Me too." Oran agreed, giving Ilea an apologetic smile.  
  
"Really? We don't know where we're going or what we're even looking for!" Ilea's voice was starting to turn hoarse, almost a frustrated shout at this point.  
  
"They want us gone in the morning Ilea! If we can trust them – they could easily say we never reached them, they could dump our bodies out there in the snow to make it look like a wild animal did or it even other elves or humans, we could be poisoned!"  
  
"Are you always like this?" Ilea snapped back in response, hands balled into fists at her sides as she stared Tanis down. "You sound hysterical!"  
  
"Have you ever had to learn about things like this? No, you haven't!" Tanis spat, Oran moving back in alarm when flames started to spark to life, the first time she'd used her magic since she'd entered the dwarven empire and there was something comforting about it. "You grew up in a palace where you had your whole family and guards – I bet the royal family have guards just for them and the palace, over and above the city guards?" The flush on Ilea's cheeks was answer enough for her and she gave a bitter laugh.  "Maybe you would make it back but would we?"  
  
"That doesn't mean we should just escape and get _lost_!"  
  
"You don't care do you? You only are about making it back to the palace where you're safe and sound with nothing to worry about!"  
  
"How dare you!"  
  
"Both of you!" Oran stepped between them, pushing them apart with her arms as she wrapped vines around them both until they couldn't move. "You were friends before this, don't start arguing now, we need to be able to work together. Shouting and setting fire to things," Tanis sighed but relented, taking a deep breath to calm herself until the flames were gone, Oran nodding her approval, "is not the way for us to get answers and get out." She waited until both of them nodded before she let go, Ilea rubbing her side where the branches had dug in through her leather armour. "I think Tanis is right though. We should look for answers and find a way out, we can do it, I'm sure of it."  
  
"We could leave and return in numbers-" Ilea suggested, cutting herself off when Tanis snorted and took a seat on one of the few dry patches of the floor. "What now?"  
  
"The dwarves were sneakier than even your people, if they have done any dealings with the elves in Rella Regnai or if they've been up to anything, they'll destroy the evidence if we get back and convince your people to come in force. _If_." She was tired now. It had been a long day already, a confusing one and she had no idea what else was to come and if they were ever going to get out alive. Dying in the dark at the hand of the dwarves wasn't how she wanted to go, at least trying to find some answers and get out on their own seemed a better way in her mind, perhaps Oran's too though now she regretted not sending the nymph away. This was no place for her at all, down in the dark and the dank, without the sun or anything living. Even the few plants they'd glimpsed here were dead and she'd heard nothing more, not even the faintest of whispers.  
  
"Those crates trouble me. So many of them and they look so out of place." Ilea admitted and at least Tanis could agree with that though she kept her mouth shut.  
  
Ilea joined her in sitting, reaching for her pack as Tanis had done, taking a sip of water, only just enough to relieve some of the ache in her throat. They had to ration it, the smell of the water around them along with how slimy it felt to the touch enough to put them all off drinking it and Tanis worried about Oran given she had no choice but to touch it.  
  
"So if we do decide to do this, how are we going to find what we're looking for?" Ilea began after wiping her hands on her leathers with a frown as she rummaged in her pack for some meat to nibble on.  
  
"You can see well here, right?" Ilea nodded so Tanis continued. "We all know how to be light on our feet. Most of the dwarves can't see so it gives us that advantage and if we're quiet, we should be able to sneak by."  
  
"And if we get lost?"  
  
"We won't. I can leave marks for you to see and that way we'll know how to get back. It's better than just sitting here."  
  
Ilea sighed, sounding defeated before she even opened her mouth. "So what, get our gear together and we go?"  
  
"Strike while the iron's hot."  
  
"Oran?" She asked helplessly but the nymph only smiled and looked at Tanis.  
  
"Strike while the iron's hot." Tanis hadn't expected Oran to repeat her words so precisely and she smiled at her. "I can feel something when we're here, the plants are strange but I can still use them I think. I'll try to be as quiet as I can. Something is _wrong_ , I can feel it. Can't you Tanis?"  
  
She hadn't wanted to say but when Ilea looked at her sharply, she sighed and nodded. "What?" Ilea asked, frowning. "What can you both feel?"  
  
"It's magic. Just...something about the magic is off. I want to get closer but at the same time I can hear a whisper telling me to stay away. I think it's how we'll know where to go, no," she swallowed and looked at her hands, a lifetime of magic having altered them. Unlike the soft hands of a healer, her hands were too hot, the tips of her fingers blackened in places and the skin too smooth, the hands of someone who favoured fire and possessed a connection to Confgra, the great flame dragon. There were calluses from the bow and from the sword but above and beyond it was her fire that had shaped her more than anything else. "No, I _know_ that it will lead us to the right place. I don't know how to explain it."  
  
"Is it like following your gut?" Ilea asked, hesitant and Tanis didn't want to guess if she was fearful, suspicious or dubious.  
  
"Yes and no. It's just...deeper. There aren't words for it, not any that I would know, just something that I _know_." Oran laid a sympathetic hand on Tanis' shoulder, even less equipped to explain than Tanis. Nymph magic was something more innate and primal, even the best of humans couldn't understand it back in the days when they had been closer. Nymphs simply were and that was that.  
  
"You're both asking me to take a lot on faith and my people are hardly religious or inclined that way in the first place," Ilea muttered, rubbing at her eyes.  
  
"You wanted answers Ilea, it was why you left," Tanis reminded her as gently as she could though she had no desire to be gentle. She wanted answers, she wanted out, she wanted back to where the world made sense.  
  
"Fine." Ilea said at long last. "Fine, we'll...we'll go look for what we can. We might be going to our deaths even sooner this way but I want answers and so do both of you so fine."  
  
"Washing your hands of the consequences?" Tanis asked before she hissed when Oran hit her in the back of the head with a vine. "What?"  
  
"Be nice. We're in this together, the consequences are shared."  
  
At least Ilea smiled though as they bent their heads together to plan, Oran gulping water from both their skins but clearly something was amiss as small leaves fell, curled in on themselves and no longer the bright green of newly opened buds. There was no doubt about it; they had to find what they could and get out as just as fast as they'd entered if Oran was to escape with as little damage to herself as possible.


	10. Chapter 10

Sneaking out was the easiest part. A single guard had been stationed to watch the door and it was easy enough for Tanis to catch him by surprise when they crept forth, lightning in the palm of her hand that she slammed into their back, watching the body stiffen violently before falling flat to the ground.  
  
"Are they dead?" Ilea whispered and Tanis shrugged, hardly caring for the health of the dwarf, planning to be long gone before anyone found out.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not, come on."  
  
Ilea took the lead, one of Tanis' hands on her shoulders as they'd decided for ease of navigation, Oran behind them with as many branches and vines woven together like some sort of shield to protect them from what would follow. They'd been lucky in being thrown into what looked like cells in the end, closer to whatever called to both Tanis and to Oran, a long passageway with roughly hewn steps to follow, built for much smaller legs than theirs. At least it wouldn't be a one way trip if they had to come back from the depths but it wasn't a thought that filled her with much cheer. Either the guard would wake or someone would come to relieve them and they'd find a corpse and three missing women and she could guess just how many of them would come looking for them and the advantage they'd possess, especially when the ceiling suddenly became much much lower, forcing the three of them to bend at the waist and crouch. They came to a fork in the tunnel where Ilea paused and moved as much as she could, allowing Tanis to crawl past her and lean one way and then the other. Unfortunately for all of them, the path to take was the one that smelt foul, even worse than the air they'd breathed on their way down into the empire. Ilea coughed when Tanis retreated behind her once more, Oran retching once she followed them down. She didn't dare ask if she was well though, not when there could be dwarves so very close to them or behind them, every little sound already too loud. Each time one of them disturbed loose ground beneath them she froze, heart skipping a beat, each snag of her hair or clothes, no matter how improbable, were fingers belonging to a dwarf and a knife would soon be pressed to her throat. The air became colder but eventually the ceiling became raised once more and there was light ahead, a blue shimmer in the distance as something purple began to hang in the air. It had no smell but she still didn't trust it but at least they weren't coughing as they dusted themselves off and stood, peering around now that Oran and Tanis could see better than relying just on Ilea.  
  
"What is this place?" The elf whispered, barely audible and Tanis shrugged, moving forward as she squinted at what she could only term as mist for the moment.  
  
"I have no idea," Tanis replied, taking a chance to stretch until her back and shoulders popped. "But it's the right place."  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
"Would you just trust me?"  
  
"Do you have any idea how much I'm already trusting you?"  
  
" _Please_ , can you two not argue here?" Oran interrupted and Tanis had to force herself not to gasp in shock as what she saw. Oran's bark had darkened and flaked off in places and all her branches and vines were devoid of leaves. She hadn't done a good job at keeping the horror from her face and Ilea had likely fared no better because the nymph looked like she might weep. "It's really that bad, isn't it? They didn't even leave a trail, they just turned into dust when they hit the ground."  
  
"Are you alright?" Tanis asked, setting a hand on Oran's side to squeeze.  
  
"I don't know, I just feel cold but I felt cold when we got here. I miss the sun and fresh air."  
  
"But nothing to make you think you've been poisoned?" Ilea questioned, pacing a quick circle around the nymph.  
  
"No, I don't think so. But can we please just get along and hurry up?"  
  
"Agreed," Tanis and Ilea chorused together and they set off once more to follow the light.  
  
"So follow the light?" Ilea suggested and Tanis sighed and nodded, thirsty but unwilling to stop for water, especially not with whatever was lingering in the air.  
  
"We should follow the mist too, it and the light are probably coming from the same place if we've found them together."  
  
Soon the ground beneath their feet changed and it was like the palace and surrounding buildings all over again, smooth stone with intricate detailing with veins of gold and silver between each stone, such wealth for a place so far from where everyone lived. The walls were similarly carved out and she couldn't imagine how they'd managed such a thing when the passages had been so narrow unless they'd painstakingly done it by hand. There were no signs of mines here and no one lived here yet it was clearly important, or it had been. Tall gates of gold stood between them and a gradually lighter and lighter passageway even as the mist became even more concentrated. The gates were locked but it was simple work to blast them with lightning and watch them fall open even as the sound made Ilea wince and wait but there was no better plan, none of them having lock picks nor the skill to wield them. No one came running though so they pressed onward until they came to a halt in a grand chamber full of relics. Relics Tanis knew from old books and it was all she could do not to fall to her knees and weep, clutching the wall for support as her hand went to her mouth. This hadn't been the pull she'd felt before but here she stood amongst objects no one had seen for centuries, stolen treasures from the war and she fought to keep the tears at bay. She paid no attention to Ilea as she wandered the room, fingertips brushing over weapons that should have been handed down through generations of her people, precious necklaces with runes the dwarves wouldn't understand likely taken from corpses, statues of dragons and other bits and pieces, all of them beautiful and shining. What surprised her most were the books, old tomes that had been plundered and forgotten about, volumes several inches thick with gold and jewel encrusted covers that she didn't dare to touch, afraid they would fall apart in her hands.  
  
"And they had the gall to look at me as if _I_ were the thief," she whispered tearfully. "That I should be the first of my people to see any of this and I cannot even bring it with me."  
  
"Tanis," Ilea tried, setting a hand on her shoulder but Tanis pushed her away.  
  
"Do you think I want an elf's pity, here of all places? You helped. You took our people and they took everything else."  
  
"I-"  
  
" _Don't_." Ilea's face fell, Oran pushing past to wrap her arms around Tanis who accepted the nymph's embrace instead, tucking her face into the space between Oran's neck and shoulder as she tried to hold herself together. It hurt. It hurt the way it had hurt when she'd seen her people in shackles in a way she couldn't put into words, lodged in her throat like something full of barbs that made it hard to breathe. "We need to keep moving."  
  
"Right," Ilea agreed and indicated for Tanis to lead on. They passed through more rooms of stolen treasures, even huge statues that reached the ceiling. "How did they get those down here?"  
  
"They must have other entrances, lowered them down with ropes and brought them through, something we can't really see like the way we came down," Oran suggested and they all stopped to look up but found only more stonework like below their feet. "I wonder how far beneath the earth we are. I know we came down but I can't tell where we really are down here, I don't like it."  
  
"It's not like we can climb out, not unless you lifted us and we found something to open any openings that might be there then pulled you up," Tanis commented with a sigh, wiping irritably at her sore eyes, only now trusting her voice to speak.  
  
"It's a possibility," the nymph agreed.  
  
"Wait," Ilea turned, walking over to inspect some sort of banner, swearing when she saw it. "This the seal of Rella Regnai."  
  
"It could be old, from before, during the war?" Tanis suggested. They had old banners in Jormsen too, carefully preserved but faded, the embroidery unravelling.  
  
"No, look at it." Ilea brandished it like a weapon and sure enough the red cloth was bright and vibrant, the golden sword and sunburst sigil glittering. "These were brought here, not by the main way, they must have other routes, other passages; some of the supplies we saw when we entered, that is how they must have gotten them, from the west!"  
  
Ilea's voice sounded far away as a pain suddenly shot through Tanis, the scar above her heart aching and she fell to her knees, trying not to cry out, curled in on herself. She was sure her head would split in two before it stopped, the awful clenching agony of it enough to have her weeping, Ilea and Oran's voices sounding as though they were a thousand miles away. Dark spots swirled on the edges of her vision until at last something seemed to loosen, the fire beneath her skin calmed and she could breathe again. Oran hovered over her, bare branches and vines outstretched in an attempt at comfort but they made her think of bone, of being in the belly of some great beast, clawing at the ribs to get out, the _snap_ of hers and her back arching in a desperate attempt at escape-  
  
"Tanis!"  
  
It was Ilea's voice that broke the spell, high and frightened as she stared down with her face white as bone, voice echoing off the stone walls and Tanis could feel her stomach heave like it had before but nothing came up, her stomach as good as empty as she scrabbled until her back was against the stone wall of the cavern or chambers or wherever they were. Something solid to brace herself against as she put her head between her knees and breathed, panting turning to shaking almost sobs until at last she felt almost normal again, the dizziness gone.  
  
"I'm fine," she croaked, wiping her face and wincing at how rough her voice sounded, like someone had been clawing at it from the inside. She didn't protest when Oran made her drink, despite the strange fog in the air, cool and soothing on her parched throat. "Was I screaming?"  
  
"No," Oran assured her, tucking the waterskin back in her pack when she was done.  
  
"Your mouth was open like you were but no sound came out," Ilea elaborated, unfolding her arms only to fold them again, one foot tapping out a staccato rhythm on the floor, fingers gripping her own upper arms tight enough to bruise. "We're going back, we're getting out some other way, we're not going further if _that_ ," with a jerky motion she pointed at Tanis and the floor, "is what happens. If we're lucky they won't have noticed we've left."  
  
"No," Tanis struggled to her feet, waving away Oran's help when she wobbled. "You can run back if you like but there is something down there and I can feel it Ilea! Run back to your castle and your spoiled little life but I am seeing this through!"  
  
"We came here together and we go back together!"  
  
"Then come with us, we have to see this through! You wanted answers," she jabbed Ilea in the chest with a finger, drawing herself up to her full height, "this is where we find them!"  
  
"I thought you were dying!" It was as if Ilea slapped her and she finally noticed that she'd been crying, doing her best not to when she'd been gripping her arms like that. Elves didn't weep for human lives, elves didn't care about their pain or their suffering and yet here was proof that at least one elf did, one elf that cared more about her than most of the people she'd known in her life who believed it was just her lot to endure. "I thought you were dying," she repeated softly, dropping her head as she crumpled, barely on her feet and it was Oran who gave Tanis the last little push to go to her and awkwardly draw her close, tucking Ilea's head beneath her chin.  
  
"I'm sorry," she began only for Ilea to laugh.  
  
"No you're not."  
  
"You're right, I'm not, I don't need to be sorry for that," she agreed easily enough. "But I need to know what's down here. There is something and it's more than stolen history Ilea. There is something down here and I need to know what it is. And I don't _need_ you to understand and respect that but I'd like it if you could try."  
  
"Ilea, Tanis is a Dragon Knight and you think you know what that means but you don't. I can feel something too but this feels like it belongs to Tanis, like it's a part of her. Dragon Knights go through great pain in their training."  
  
"Oran you look like you're dying too!" Ilea sounded betrayed and aghast, pulling back from Tanis to embrace the nymph who staggered under the sudden weight of the princess.  
  
"And that is part of life. But I want to know too. If this is my fate then it's my fate but I'm not dead yet. This is like winter come again and I survive that out in the wild like the rest of my kind."  
  
"We've wasted enough time, come on, let's see this to the end."  
  
Nodding, Ilea allowed Tanis to lead the way as the mist became thicker and thicker and started to shimmer, even the light itself turned to the colour of a bruise. It wasn't poison but when she flickered flames to life in her hand, the flames around her fingertips blazed lighter until she stopped, a curse on her lips. Gas of some kind, something she'd read about more than anything else and if it came to fighting then even two blades meeting could ignite the whole place if enough of a spark were created.  
  
"Where's that light coming from?" She asked, looking to Ilea for help.  
  
"I didn't actually see anything that could be causing it. It's not daylight and I thought dwarves hated all life but there were some strange stones in the wall, I wonder if they did something with those things on the ceiling-"  
  
"Worms," Oran supplied helpfully and when Tanis looked back she could see some crawling through her flesh.  
  
"Or those plants? Is there a way Oran?"  
  
"I don't know, those plants have never seen the light of the sun or stars, I don't have a connection to them the way I do things on the surface."  
  
Tanis pressed a hand to her chest again, over the ridge of scar tissue she could swear she felt even through her breastplate. "We're close, be ready."  
  
She could hear water, the rushing of a river as the archway they walked through revealed another cave, this one lit with more of the worms on the ceiling and at least one sort of creature in the river itself. This was somewhere the dwarves didn't live, no sound but the water and dripping and it was almost beautiful if not for the mist that had thickened a foot or so from the ground, so thick that when they moved forward she could barely see her feet. Her heart was loud in her ears and it felt as though her scar might burst open and her heart explode out of her chest but she forced herself to take a breath and look around, Ilea ducking past her to stare down either end. The elf shook her head, a tiny determined smile on her face at finding no one but them before she pointed to a spot north, around a bend here the mist tapered off to a more narrow point. Tanis nodded, leading the way as she searched the ground for a stone, carefully dipping it. No fizzing, no bubbling. A good sign, perhaps the best they'd had in their whole time down here so she waded across, muffling a yelp at the cold.  
  
"Feels like Jormsen's rivers," she warned as Oran waded next, Ilea bringing up the rear with her bow in hand though the nymph waited in the waters, no doubt drinking in something fresh as she smiled, looking the brightest she had since they'd come down here. Had it really only been this morning? With the dark it was impossible to tell how long had passed and after the early start, the argument and whatever had happened to her in the chambers, Tanis was exhausted but determined to find out what was going on and now they were close.  
  
"Do you feel any-" Ilea jumped back with a hiss when she touched Tanis' shoulder, shaking her hand and blowing on it.  
  
"What?" Tanis asked in alarm, reaching for her hand only for Ilea to pull it away and suck on her red fingers.  
  
"You're burning up right through your clothes! Just the air around you."  
  
"Shit," she hissed, trying to breathe deeply, wishing she could take her breastplate off to inspect the scar and see what was going on with it and if it was somehow glowing red.  
  
"Oran, can you help her?" Ilea asked frantically as Tanis backed away and stepped into the river, forcing her mind to focus on just how cold it was, imagining the water leeching the heat from her and it bubbled around her as Ilea looked on.  
  
"It's a Dragon Knight thing," the nymph said helplessly, seeking to reassure Ilea but equally unable to provide a proper explanation. "It's because of-"  
  
"Oran, don't!" Oran knew like nymphs knew, like her people knew but it wasn't to be repeated, like the nightmares she wouldn't describe. "Just...give me a moment. I think it's almost over, it's how close we are."  
  
"Remember that time the air ignited around your fingers?"  
  
She hated to concede the point to Ilea but she sighed and waded out again. "I can't tell you. I just can't but we're close and then we can see what it is and follow the river to get out." Ilea didn't look happy but Tanis didn't care as she rushed ahead and around the sharp bend to where the mist was coming from only to come to a halt at an opening in the wall where it was pitch black.  
  
"We're going in, aren't we." It wasn't even a question, just miserable resignation as Ilea waited for Tanis to nod. "Right, if I see anything I don't like, we turn back and we get out."  
  
"If you want answers, I think this is the best place to look."  
  
Ilea gave her a withering look but headed in, Oran next as Tanis drew her sword, the weight of familiar and welcome as they made their way through. Whatever was beneath their feet crunched, not like stone or gravel, or even dried leaves or dead grass and Tanis was grateful for the branch that wrapped around her securely, sure that Oran had to be spreading out roots to help them all balance. A strange light came from the centre of the room – and it was a room, she could see that now as her eyes began to adjust to the dark – but her attention went to the floor and the walls. They were walking on bones. Hundreds of them beneath their feet and on the walls, skeletons made into strange new shapes and she stared at them in horror, daring to cup flames in her palm now that the mist only blanketed their feet. More of the worms had joined Oran and they lined the hollows of her body with blue light as they all stood still, craning their necks as they beheld the grisly scene that lay before them. There had been steps once, she could feel the edges of them as brittle skulls cracked beneath her feet, the heels of her boots slipping into eyeless sockets and toothless jaws.  
  
"How did they get so many bodies?" Oran asked, her voice a tremulous whisper, almost lost as they made slow progress down do the centre of the room. "Is this what they do with their dead?"  
  
"The bones are too large to come from a dwarf," Tanis muttered before she swore as one of her feet sank deeper into the bones, Oran hauling her up, holding her steady until she regained her balance. "Do your people know what they do with their dead Ilea?"  
  
"No," the elf replied, sounding dazed.  
  
"Ilea?" The nymph asked quietly, tapping her with a branch.  
  
"You've never seen dead like this before," Tanis guessed. Ilea's nod was small as she turned, her face as pale as the bones beneath them. Tanis had killed bandits but she'd seen plenty of people die, mostly the very old and the very young on the years a winter was hard or when some sickness spread through too fast for healers to catch before it started to claim victims. "Can you see through that mist in the middle of the room?"  
  
"No, I think it's rising again though."  
  
"Do we want to go down?" Oran asked and Tanis shook her head as she finally found an area clear enough of bones to stand for a moment, crouching as she took a moment to breathe, one hand reaching out to touch a skull.  
  
"Who were you?" She asked quietly as she listened to the crunch of Ilea and Oran moving around, Ilea's hands tight on her bow before she got to her feet again, continuing along the edge of what was either a ledge of some sort of staircase that went around the room. "One of my people I think, Solace guide you brother or sister," she prayed softly, "you are at peace now even if your bones must crumble in the dark." Still the strange pull persisted, her eyes drawn to where the mist seemed to come from and she rose to her feet, carefully picking her way down towards it, past Ilea who had a hand pressed to her mouth. She could hear something now, she was sure of it, a whispering and a rhythmic pounding that she strained to make out better. How had Ilea not mentioned this? It couldn't just be Tanis hearing the noise and she wondered what was below them again, what she might see...  
  
Oran's cry of alarm followed by Tanis' name yanked her sharply from her reverie and she turned, shaking her head to clear the sounds from it as the nymph turned with one hand outstretched to whatever she'd found, Ilea's bow drawn. They had no idea how sensitive dwarven hearing was and what might be lurking in the dark beneath their feet or just beyond where they'd entered, perhaps more on the way they might take out to the surface. She felt clumsy as she staggered over, grabbing Oran's arm until the wood gave way beneath her hand and a foul smelling liquid clung to her, causing her to retch as she wiped her hand on her leg.  
  
"Sorry," Oran whispered, trembling.  
  
"No, we brought-" But she stopped short as she saw what Oran had seen that had caused her so much alarm.  
  
A ribcage. A ribcage on the left side with a hole punched through the ribs as though someone had reached in to pluck out a still beating heart.  
  
She had to fight not to throw up, not to scream, not to cry. These were her people. There was no denying it, the sob catching in her throat until she couldn't breathe, sharp enough to hurt as Oran touched gripped her tight. The world fell away as there was a roar in her ears until Oran pulled away, sending more bones crashing to the floor beneath them, Ilea hissing something she couldn't understand; all she could see as she looked around were more of her people, their skulls staring accusingly and the intact ribcages all bearing a hole in the centre of the left side.  
  
"Tanis!" Ilea's slap stung when it came, the elf drawing back her hand to blow on it but the pain was gone quickly. After all, her fire burned as though she were Confgra come again, vicious and angry and the pull was stronger, it was deafening and dizzying, it made it difficult to stand.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You need to calm yourself, this is not the time or the place!"  
  
Before Tanis could argue back, Oran turned, her face a strange mask of grief and fury. "You would never understand this Ilea. These are her people. These are Dragon Knights."  
  
"You can't know that," Ilea replied swiftly but she edged away from them both and as many bones as she could, casting a quick look to the spot where they'd entered.  
  
"I can," Oran said quietly and time seemed to slow and stretch, Tanis trying to speak before the nymph could, not the nymph's secret to tell, a secret no elf was ever to know if they hadn't learned it during the war but the words caught in her throat as her flames flickered, burning and disappearing as she fought with herself.  
  
"How?" Ilea asked, still waving her palm in the air to soothe any burned skin.  
  
"The hole in the ribs is on the left side, above the heart," the nymph explained, not even glancing when Tanis let out a croaking noise. "Did your people never find out? You didn't ever wonder why they were called Dragon Knights? Why they were the very best? Why their magic was the best and they were the ones guarding dragon nests?"  
  
"Oran," Tanis tried, a desperate sob escaping her, "Oran _no_."  
  
The nymph turned and smiled sadly at her, glancing down to the skeleton she'd found before she looked back at Ilea. "Dragon Knights have the heart of a dragon to this very day. It's what makes them what they are."


	11. Chapter 11

Ilea laughed.  
  
It was a high thing, the laugh of surprise that came after a punch to the jaw when a drunken joke didn't go as well as expected, or when a blow landed in the training yard harder than expected, knocking all the breath from the lungs as the world spun sideways. A hysterical edge to it that echoed off the stone walls and ceiling of the chamber, the dead looking on as silent witness. The tears Tanis felt on her cheek were gone as soon as they fell until the fire had burned out of her as she fell to her knees, palms flat on the stone floor.  
  
"You jest," Ilea finally managed only to look at Tanis who could meet her eyes for a moment before she dropped her head to her chest, drawing in a ragged breath. "You jest," Ilea repeated and she sounded utterly horrified by what she heard. "Tanis, tell me this is some jest between the two of you. Tanis, _tell me_!"  
  
"No," Tanis whispered, rejecting Oran's hand as she forced herself to her feet and wiped at her face. "She...she speaks the truth."  
  
"But how? Did the dragons die to do this? Is this-"  
  
"A dragon has - _had_ -" she corrected herself bitterly, unable to look at Ilea as she returned to the centre of the room, staring into the mist until her vision blurred, "two hearts. They could survive with one and they gave it to the best of us. A dragon's heart will seldom fail and it has something within it...a power I can't explain."  
  
"Even my people could never understand it fully," Oran added softly.  
  
"You had dragon hearts," Ilea echoed, drawing closer to Tanis until she could feel her, stopping just short.  
  
"Have," Tanis corrected.  
  
"But the dragons-"  
  
"The heart lives on."  
  
"Then you..." The elf trailed off and Tanis turned to look at her, her vision blurring with tears as the elf backed away and looked as though she might be sick, her breath rapid and shallow.  
  
Her elders would kill her for this but she nodded and loosened the catches on her breastplate, moving it and her shirt out of the way to reveal the scar that curved upward, following the path of her ribs, black like old lava, thick and rough to the touch, utterly unlike human skin. With a look of morbid fascination, Ilea approached again, hand outstretched to touch it, the briefest brush of fingertips before Tanis leapt back and dropped the shirt, buckling the armour again. "I favour fire," she managed. No one had touched her scar since the healers had allowed her to leave their care, even she barely touched it if she could help it. Ilea would have seen the other marks too, the ones on her belly, faded but likely obvious to an elf's keen vision. Perhaps she would have been too distracted by the scar and what she had learned to remember them.  
  
"How? I don't understand. How can you have a dragon heart?"  
  
"The heart lives on. We passed them down, one knight to the next," Tanis replied wearily, rubbing her eyes. "Can we just find out where that mist or fog is coming from and leave? This isn't the place."  
  
"Right," Ilea muttered, "right."  
  
She could still feel Ilea's eyes on her as they approached where the mist was coming from as one, moving towards the centre of the room, a strange glittering stone beneath their feet. It was the one area devoid of bones, a great gash running through from one edge to the other and she thought of her scar that still tingled from that momentary brush of Ilea's fingertips. It was wider than she'd thought at first – even after so long in the dark her eyes had not adjusted entirely and they still stung with unshed tears and perhaps whatever effect the mist was having on her – and she lowered herself on one knee to peer down, Ilea and Oran doing likewise, one of Ilea's hands resting on Tanis' shoulder for balance.  
  
"Should we be this close to this mist?" The elf asked, peering at it suspiciously as Tanis frowned at it.  
  
"Maybe Oran-"  
  
"The damage is done," the nymph interrupted, "and this is where _it_ is coming from."  
  
"This thing, it, whatever you two are calling it, is it to do with your heart?" Ilea murmured, glancing up from where she'd been squinting through the mist and Tanis nodded.  
  
"All nymphs are magic and I think any other human could sense this too but the pull comes from here," she brought one hand up to press to her chest above the scar that seemed to have come alive, an itch but not quite making her skin too sensitive and she wanted to scratch at it until her fingers came away bloody. It had never felt like this before, only when her magic flared to life too strongly and then that was heat and something an awful lot like it might crack wide open so that her chest would split open and the dragon heart would be bare for all the world to see. "It feels like...I don't know, I don't know what the words are for this," she confessed, helpless and resentful, afraid if that weight in the pit of her stomach was anything to go by. "It just _is_."  
  
Ilea gave her a level stare before she moved closer to the crack, her fingers curled around the edges and Tanis waited, barely daring to breathe. Being so close to the mist could do anything but she didn't so much as cough, instead looking up again to beckon them closer. "There's fresh air at the edges, it's just that something is coming up that...that's the opposite of light."  
  
"What?" Tanis and Oran chorused and the elf rolled her eyes.  
  
"You two are talking about a feeling I can't feel that you don't have words for and I say there is something I can see that is dark but more and I'm the odd one?"  
  
"Fine," Tanis muttered as she too moved closer and curled her fingers until the roughened edges of the stone dug into it, peering down and the elf was right. It was dark, so dark, some strange shimmer at the edges, purple and pink and the red of fresh blood and she followed it to the source until her eyes caught on something, something worse even than those cracked open ribs. Even Ilea knew what they were when Tanis gripped the stone tight enough to hurt, even more horrifying than the skeletons surrounding them and what had happened to the poor people who had been brought down here in the dark and left, forgotten and unmourned.  
  
"Dragon eggs," Oran whispered and Tanis wanted to throw up until there was nothing left, wanted to burn until she was nothing more than a pile of ash and melted armour, wanted to cut through every dwarf and to bring their empire crumbling down on top of them until nothing remained.  
  
"We lost eggs during the war, those were the first violations, the first sign that something terrible was happening," Tanis managed, wishing she could look away but they were dragon eggs, they were what the Dragon Knights had guarded.  
  
"And the Knights?" Ilea asked.  
  
"Some of them asked to guard the nests but there were clutches gone, knights gone too or felled by foul poisons."  
  
"What if..." Oran began only to trail off and it was then that Tanis looked up and over at her.  
  
"What Oran?"  
  
"You said a dragon heart could live on?" The nymph waited for Tanis to nod in agreement before she continued. "What if the poison didn't kill them outright? I know they did kill dragons and knights but this...if there are eggs and they brought people with dragon hearts here-"  
  
"Would the dwarves have known?" Ilea interrupted but she sounded distracted, her eyes still on what lay below them like Tanis'. "We had no knowledge, it is not recorded, I didn't even know what made Tanis so special, neither did my parents."  
  
"Cave rats are skulking things that cannot be trusted, they are greedy and grasping. They could have learned and kept it to themselves."  
  
Ilea opened her mouth to speak but the room shook about them and they all cried in alarm, bones rattling all around them and suddenly there was a great gout of mist and the stone groaned beneath them, the crack widening as they scuttled back to the edge of the steps, Ilea's wrist in Tanis' right hand, Oran's in her left. Her heart was pounding and some strange ache coursed through her as the world trembled beneath them, the floor buckling in places and she was not the only one who turned her head sharply to make sure that their way out had not become blocked. Her magic could help them, she was sure of that, but she hardly wanted to spend the time doing it if dwarves would be waiting for them. She couldn't say how long it lasted, her heart pounding the whole time until at last it was over and the mist rose in the air, a thick layer of dust choking them as they all rifled through their packs for water.  
  
"It's the dwarves," Ilea said softly, rising to her feet on unsteady legs. "The dwarves are doing something to cause this. Down there, with, with-" she faltered, looking about the room and back to the widened gash in the floor that perhaps one day would split the room in two, at a loss for words. "Bones and dragon eggs, dragon _hearts_."  
  
Tanis wanted to ask why Ilea cared about the last part. They belonged to Tanis. Her people. Her fallen ancestors. Her heart if the heart in your own body could be called yours even if it hadn't originally belonged to you. "We need to find out what they're doing down there."  
  
"I agree but how are we going to do that? They're not about to tell us," Ilea replied as Tanis got to her feet, pulling Oran with her.  
  
"We can fit down there now." They looked at her as though she was mad, eyes wide with disbelief. "You wanted answers," she defended when they continued to stare at her in astonishment.  
  
"You want us to go down there where we have no idea what we're going to find?" Ilea asked, folding her arms. "Anything could be down there and that's where you want to go?"  
  
"I have to agree with Ilea," Oran said reluctantly.  
  
"Neither of you need to come but I'm going."  
  
"Tanis don't be an idiot."  
  
"These are my people Ilea. Mine, not yours. Dragon eggs. Things you didn't even know, the dwarves clearly did then and still do. You don't need to come but you wanted to find answers so I'm going."  
  
"You might not like what you find!" Oran's shout was one of alarm, her vines whipping through the air to wrap around Tanis' right arm, tugging the knight towards her and Ilea.  
  
Tanis smiled sadly, shaking her head. "I haven't liked any of this Oran. This is what I need to do. What I need to find. I'm sorry but I have to do this."  
  
"You're going to get yourself killed!" Ilea protested, Oran nodding rapidly.  
  
"What's one more Dragon Knight down here?" She could hear the bitterness in her own voice, the hollow laugh as she made her way to the edge of the crack, testing the weight with one foot to see if any stone would crumble away. It was hard to judge the jump she'd have to make, preferable to a fall in that she could at least have some control over it and escape with little to no injury.  
  
"Tanis!" It was Oran who shouted, wrapping vines and branches around Tanis before she could move away, not hard enough to hurt and her arms remained free. She raised an eyebrow, unsure as to what the nymph intended and though she didn't smile exactly, she gave a nod, her face determined.  
  
"I'll pull you up. Ilea?" More tendrils made their way towards the elf who looked uncertain before she nodded and allowed them to wrap around her as she joined Tanis.  
  
Roots snaked out from the nymph's feet, anchoring her to the ledge as they disappeared down further. Expecting to find hard ground beneath her feet, she grimaced when it gave way slightly with a sickening squelch. She reached out to feel for Ilea's arm in the dark, squinting in the dim light as she shuffled forward, her stomach heaving treacherously at the sounds her feet made. It had to be far worse for the elf, able to hear details Tanis could not and despite everything, she found she could feel some sympathy for her. After calling up to Oran to have the nymph loosen her grip just a touch, Tanis bent at the waist to touch whatever the ground was made of, wincing at the familiarity of it. Ilea looked over, her bow in hand, the other raised towards her quiver though Tanis had to wonder at how well either them would be able to fight with Oran holding onto them as she did.  
  
"It's blood or close enough," she confirmed, loosening a dagger with her other hand as she pressed, the ground feeling so like flesh it turned her stomach. "What do you see?"  
  
"Hang on," Ilea tipped her head up to where they had descended from, waving at Oran. "Can you give me some slack? I need to keep moving!" No word came from the nymph but her vines creaked and Tanis watched as Ilea made her way through the chamber carefully as Tanis knelt and pressed at the ground with a blade, swearing as it gave the way flesh would.  
  
"Belly of the void," she murmured and wondered where they were, remembering the old stories as Ilea turned to look at her.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Nothing, just-" she broke off and waved the question away with one hand as she pressed with the edge of the blade and grimaced as a foul smell hit her the instant it pierced through the floor. It gave like flesh, thickened, almost as tough as a scar and yet too wet and almost spongy and soon enough thick dark liquid bubbled up and she scrambled back in alarm just in time to hear Ilea call her name.  
  
"Tanis! Tanis you need to-"  
  
"Oran! Some slack!" She called up, getting to her feet again to seek out Ilea, her feet sliding on the floor as she fanned at the thick mist, daring to summon enough magic in her palm so she could see better but she still had to stifle a cry of alarm when Ilea at last made a grab for her.  
  
"Sorry, the ground here-"  
  
"If it's even ground-"  
  
"Yes, well, you need to see this and be ready."  
  
"Why?" Tanis asked with suspicion but Ilea only sighed softly and pointed ahead of them to a sight that broke her heart and had her sinking to her knees, the pain of the sight eclipsing even the pulsing she felt right through her very bones. Ilea's apology and murmured sympathies were almost lost to her as she stared in horror at the sight that lay before her: dragon eggs in a nest of bones and ruined corpses that somehow had not become old bones. A wretched low moan tore itself from her throat as tears stung her eyes, the sound and the pain in her chest so acute she yearned to claw it free and cast it at the eggs.  
  
"Tanis?" It was Ilea's voice that brought her back to the present, a hand on her shoulder that she tried to shrug off but she couldn't, she couldn't move, she could barely breathe for the hurt and the grief that tore at her with savage fingers, howling in her ear. "Should dragon eggs look like this?"  
  
It took time for her to realise what Ilea had asked, staggering to her feet as though it was the most monumental effort she had ever engaged in, scrubbing at her face with her hands. But she looked though and...and the elf was right. "No. I've only seen pictures in books or read descriptions but this is...this is not right." It was a bold move, to reach out and touch one but she had to be sure for every description had shared one common element and as she touched the rough surface of the egg, not hold nor cold, she dropped her head to her chest, rubbing her hands together as though it would erase the sensation from them.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"They've done something. Even a fragment of a dragon egg is smooth to the touch, no matter if the egg lived or not. They looked very different but they were smooth. These are..."  
  
"You've never touched one though."  
  
"I know that!" Her voice echoed and Oran clearly heard as the vines tightened for a moment. "No one is more aware of that than me but they are _doing something_ to these eggs. Feel them! They're rough like stone."  
  
"It isn't-" Ilea broke off, jerking her head up and to one side, holding up a hand when Tanis went to speak. "We have to go."  
  
"Dwarves?" Tanis asked, a sudden fear piercing through her.  
  
"Dwarves," Ilea confirmed, both of them running for the spot they had descended from. "A _lot_ of dwarves."


	12. Chapter 12

It hurt when Oran tugged them up at last, both of them buffeted against the rough stone as the vines and branches about them started to dig in until Tanis could hardly breathe. The stone shook again and Oran cried out, one final tug to bring them up as they scrambled the rest of the way. The nymph looked pale and not only that, she looked faded, like dying wood and when Tanis looked down she could see vines that had snapped, flakes of bark littering the ground. They'd lingered too long already, dallying further and there was no guarantee Oran would make it out alive and right now, Tanis was unsure as to whether or not the nymph would actually recover. The shaking had dislodged skulls and bones as they scrambled awkwardly back out, Tanis with her sword drawn and fire pulsing in her palm. Something responded to her magic, she could feel it in the marrow of her bones but there was no time to think of it, only time to run to the entrance they'd slipped through.  
  
"Where do we go now?" Ilea hissed, casting a look down the way they had come.  
  
"We follow the water, it'll come down and there should be a way we can climb up," Tanis suggested, pointing ahead along the path. "We can hardly go back, can we?"  
Ilea sighed, shaking her head. "What did you do down there?"  
  
"I didn't do anything, you saw what I did."  
  
"I saw...I don't know, you have magic, you touched them and then-"  
  
"Ilea, now isn't the time, we should go," Oran urged, sounding strained and Tanis nodded.  
  
"Right, we get out. You lead then Tanis, I can listen out for them."  
  
"They're close." It didn't need to be a question, Tanis knew they were coming.  
  
"A lot of them, I can't tell exactly but the sooner we get out, the better. They can't run as fast as we can but they don't need to see in the dark like we do and they know the paths much better."  
  
"So we'll be quick – I've fought more than either of you, when I tell you to move or to get back, you'll need to do it. The dwarves are weak to magic and they're not going to see an arrow flying for them."  
  
"Understood," Ilea and Oran said together and then they were off and running, keeping to the edge of the small river as best they could. Water would splash and slow them down but the stones and gravel beneath their feet crumbled treacherously when they ran, Tanis more than once losing her footing. She had to wonder how well Ilea and Oran were faring given that her training had involved pushing herself and that a Dragon Knight could draw on reserves of strength most couldn't even dream of. Ilea however was an elf princess, accustomed to a life of pampering and Oran honestly looked as though she might already be dying. The darkness was disorienting, even with the strange glowing plants and stone and creatures around them and Tanis could feel herself swooning as they tried to keep going.  
  
"We need to rest," Ilea huffed eventually following the loud splash and groan from falling into the river.  
  
"Do you want to tell the dwarves that or should I? You're the one with diplomatic training after all," Tanis snapped back, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand as her stomach growled, somehow managing to be hungry in all of this.  
  
"Look, see that outcropping?" Ilea had caught up to her, a red flush across her cheeks and spreading to her ears, eyes wide and frightened as she pointed ahead.  
  
"What a great place to stop, our backs to the stone so that when the dwarves find us, we have no way out but carving our way through them." Tanis snapped, gritting her teeth so hard that her jaw spasmed.  
  
"Tanis," Oran's voice was soft as she reached out and it was the sight of the nymph – a pitiful sight indeed – that made her relent. She was clearly exhausted, trapped down here in the dark so Tanis sighed and let Ilea lead the way, the three of them soon pressed awkwardly against the wall, knees and elbows jammed tight against one another. After they'd shared water and Tanis and Ilea had eaten, Oran finally smiled, a tight ghost of a smile but it was something at least and Tanis smiled back, loosening her grip on her sword as her hand and arm started to cramp.  
  
"Do you hear anything?" Oran asked at last when they'd been sitting in silence for Solace knew how long, their waterskins put away as quietly as possible.  
  
"It's harder to hear so well down here, the echoes off the stone and they have a strange gait," Ilea whispered, peeking out of the cave. "We know so little about them, we never truly bothered to ask much during the war and before...well, there are things we don't discuss."  
  
Tanis sighed, itching to move now that her armour sat uncomfortably, an unforgiving press of metal on stone digging into her skin. "As soon as we can, we need to move. The water is coming from somewhere, we follow it and find a way out."  
  
"If we don't find one?"  
  
"Do you fancy fighting your way back through the way we already came?" Tanis asked, too exhausted to bother trying to sound angry and Ilea sighed and shook her head.  "That's what I thought. This is the only road open to us."  
  
"We made it this far." Oran added softly, his voice barely above a whisper.  
  
"There were a lot of bones in there. My people."  
  
Oran held her hand, squeezing carefully. "And you will return to tell your living people of them so that at least they know where some of them-"  
  
Ilea made a 'tch' holding up a hand as she tilted her head and leaned as close as she dared to the opening they'd squeezed into. Tanis and Oran froze, waiting for her command. "Time to go, they're in that cavern, I can hear bones rattling."  
  
They clambered out, every noise almost painful when they were so close to the dwarves, forced to move slower than they would like, Tanis glad she'd been trained to move as silently as possible but it still posed a problem with so much water. At least she could hear a roaring that meant there was a waterfall close and one way or another, that meant freedom, fresh air and open skies, above the earth not under it. Luck was not wholly on their side though; the growl in the distance meant dwarves, a howl of rage and she clenched her to summon flames, sword in hand.  
  
"Ilea take the lead, you need range for the bow, I can hold them off if they get too close," she ordered and there was no complaint, the elf breaking into a run even as she drew her bow and an arrow, ready for what was to come as Oran hesitated for only a moment before she followed the elf. "Confgra grant me your aid, wherever you might be," Tanis whispered to herself, following after the others as she looked over her shoulder, her voice barely audible over the crackling of flames in her palm. "Solace guide me to your side if this is to be my final hour." This was never how she had planned to die but her training had always involved the possibility of it. Life in Jormsen was hard, children trained to survive from as soon as they were able to understand the concept so it would be a part of them, the years spent readying herself to become a Dragon Knight only adding to that. Then the ritual where she had hovered, somewhere between life and death. She wasn't afraid to die, this was her duty after all, it was only the heart that had been passed down through so many generations that she worried for now, unwilling to let it fall into dwarven hands or to be lost to her people entirely. It didn't take long for her to see them, their strange misshapen pale bodies moving with surprising speed but dwarves felt no pain, not like the rest of them did and there was so little they knew. The dwarves had come from the darkness and they vastly preferred it and she could only hope that the light of her flames would help to dissuade them as well. Luckily they would have melee weapons rather than bows so she had less to worry about until they were close enough to attack but it was the three of them with the odds stacked in favour of the dwarves. The sooner they got to sunlight and finding where the water came from, the better. Breathing started to hurt, the air thin down here like the highest mountains but with the dark and whatever sort of toxins they might have been inhaling since they arrived, it made it seem worse.  
  
She was afraid, she realised. All her training forgotten as survival took to the fore of her mind, racing after Ilea and Oran, stumbling whenever she looked back. It wasn't just fear for the heart that spurred her to keep moving, it was fear for herself, for the pain she'd felt in those awful moments with her elders above her in that cold dark room, her ribs split open like the skeletons they had found. It shamed her, angered her. She ran faster.  
  
"Light!" Ilea shouted suddenly, sounding giddy with relief or perhaps delirious from exhaustion. "Tanis hurry!"  
  
The world become almost blindingly bright and she squinted suddenly, the crash of water loud and the air at last clear. A gap opened into the world above, the air cold enough to sting but there was no time to enjoy it as she surveyed the crumbling black stone all about them. Getting up and out was not going to be easy under the best of circumstances but exhausted and with dwarves so close that even Tanis could hear them breathing, it seemed almost impossible.  
  
"Can you get to higher ground?" She called out and the elf nodded, her face grim and determined, likely a mirror for Tanis' own.  
  
"I'm helping too," Oran added as she joined Tanis, even the briefest moment of real light and fresh air seeming to spruce her up and give her back her vitality, at least a little.  
  
"Stay out of the flames then," Tanis ordered and Oran nodded, the ground shifting like a rolling wave, Tanis allowing herself to be momentarily distracted for she had never seen a nymph use their magic in such a way before. Soon the nymph had created what looked like several strange pillars with flat tops of varying height and it wasn't until Tanis herself moved that she realised they were platforms for Ilea, the sides too smooth for anything to climb but surely within reach of an agile elf.  
  
Perhaps they would not die today after all.  
  
She threw up a wall of flame as the dwarves approached as time seemed to slow around her, the world melting away beneath the roar of flame as she coated her blade in it and clutched it in her palm, feeling her blood igniting. She felt strong. She felt like something other than human, something more. The dwarves hesitated and she expected Ilea to fire an arrow or for Oran to sweep out with vines but she was the one to move first, her left arm outstretched to launch fire at them, grinning in satisfaction when the dwarves hissed and howled and the stink of burning flesh hit her nose. They let out a cry and an arrow whistled through the air, then another and another, the earth groaning and rocks pounding and shattering as Oran launched them with vines and roots. She burst through her wall of flame with her blade out and it was different to fight the dwarves, being so much shorter and much more solid than she had expected but she felt alive. Her skin sang and her armour took the hits as she moved, the very air around her hot enough to burn too. She felt a cut along her calf and hissed, stabbing out with her blade and watching as it sank through a throat, a gout of red blood spurting into the air when she wrenched it free. They did not cry out in pain from the touch of a blade but the fire at least seemed to work and when she let lightning crackle they trembled, losing control of their muscles.  
  
"More are coming!" Ilea called as she leapt to one of Oran's pillars, as agile as a doe and Tanis was in awe for a moment before she remembered herself. "We need to move Tanis!"  
  
She could barely hear her, the clash of metal on metal and the magic around her almost deafening and though she knew Ilea would run out of arrows eventually, she found it hard to pull herself out of whatever had settled in her mind. It felt so natural to fight like this. Her trainers had called her rash. Impulsive. What would they say now as she let the rocks Oran launched ignite, some of them exploding to hit many at once, others melting as they landed? This was what they had trained her for after all.  
  
"Tanis!"  
  
She couldn't recognise the voice, even the name felt wrong. Who was she? Why was she fighting a dwarf down here? _I do not fit, this is not for me, I am not for these dark places_ , someone – or was it something? – murmured in her mind and then suddenly the world went white as a blade found a spot to strike and she was faltering. It had found her thigh, slicing into the flesh and she staggered, gasping in pain. The dwarf's face curled into a snarling grin of triumph as she tried to regain her focus, tried to summon her magic or lift her blade, _do not let me die here, I cannot die in the dark, they will not have it_ , when suddenly Ilea appeared before her with two slender blades flashing before they sank deep into the dwarf's skull, the body cushioning her fall.  
  
"We're going, _now_!" The elf snapped and she was dragging Tanis who clenched her jaw and pulled from somewhere deep inside herself to blast fire at them as they ascended more pillars Oran tried to throw up, the nymph just ahead of them. Sweat poured down Tanis' brow, half-blinding her as her thigh throbbed and pain shot down her leg followed by tingling numbness and she had a moment to wonder just how deep it was. It was a lapse she could ill afford as the weak stone of the pillars crumbled when she lost her footing, both her and Ilea shouting in alarm. "Oran!" The elf called and she shoved Tanis forward, vines catching her by the wrist as the nymph tugged her along.  
  
"Ilea!" Tanis called back as the nymph switched to her bow, precious few arrows left.  
  
"I'll manage, both of you get out first!" It was wrong, the elf should have abandoned them, she should have been the first out and Tanis should not have been the one bleeding and having to be hauled out by a nymph as her magic sputtered out, the last of her strength gone. There was a smile on the elf's face and Tanis found herself nodding back as she and Oran scrambled out, the nymph hooking her vines and branches up first before she hauled Tanis out, both of them wheezing. The air was cool on her skin, snow beneath her and water splashing as they landed in the river basin and she got a good look at her leg at last and the blood that coated her. But there wasn't time to investigate, Oran leaning over and Tanis sheathed her sword and dragged herself over to the opening too, peering down into the dark.  
  
"Ilea! Ilea come on!" The nymph was shouting but she too was exhausted, likely keeping the pillars in place as the elf ran and darted, the dwarves scrabbling after her. Her face was white with fear and had the pallor of the exhausted, strange shadows beneath her eyes even after fighting and Tanis swore and lunged forward as the elf made a final leap, her hand tight around hers as she gave a tug to pull her free before she forced herself to kneel, inhaled as deeply as she could and blew flames down, steam and melting rock and fire all blasted into the faces of the dwarves.  
  
Her mouth tasted of blood and her throat felt like she had clawed it open when she was done, collapsing back into the river that hissed around her. She touched her thigh, fingers slipping on blood and sinking deep and the fact that it didn't hurt should have alarmed her but the world blurred around the edges, her vision swimming and the last thing she saw was Ilea kneeling over her, cupping her face.  
  
She could have sworn that the elf was crying.


	13. Chapter 13

She drifted. There were flashes of snow and trees, two voices but only one she could understand. One voice was the forest lulling her to sleep and the other was a woman's frightened and hurting and she wanted to reach out, to reassure her but she couldn't. Where was she? She saw the night sky some nights and the canopy of the forest but this was not home, she was sure. Why was she out here? Why did she only remember the night and the dark? A slender sapling fed her water and something else, a potion perhaps or a cool tea and it soothed her parched throat. She was too hot but when she tried to remove her armour she was tucked back in and kept close to the fire as she sweated and shook and she was sure she was crying, that was her voice wasn't it?  
  
"Is she-" the woman asked but the forest only shook, the rustling of leaves the only answer it would give.  
  
She drifted again. She remembered dark and hissing water, fire and I am afraid, do not let me die here and she woke with a sob and the woman turned, the woman with her pale angular face and her eyes just as wide and rimmed red, as though she had been sobbing.  
  
"I'm here," the woman – an elf, why was an elf here, why was she comforting her – said over and over as she took the hand Tanis reached out with and cupped it between both of hers, her smile thin and lips wobbling as though she would burst into tears again, as though she had never truly stopped. "I'm here, please stay." And Tanis tried but the dark beckoned and swallowed her and she didn't want to die, her heart was pounding, there were bones, so many, hundreds of hollow eyes and a drumming sound and she had to tell them, she had to let them go in peace and they were ripping out her _heart_ -  
  
Cool water. Snow. Open sky and sun. Blood on her fingertips and she saved me, she saved me, why did she save me. Was that her who had said it or the elf woman?  
  
The dark was comforting for once.  
  
Waking hurt. Her mouth was dry and still tasted of blood and honey and when she tried to breathe she coughed violently, a thousand aches and pains making their presence felt, especially her thigh as the world came back into focus. She choked until she was sure she would vomit but there was Ilea sobbing in relief and hauling her upright and there too was Oran with honeyed tea that she pressed into shaking hands, urging her to drink first before she tried anything else. It was Ilea she leant against when she felt her strength failing her, Ilea who whispered what Tanis would swear was 'thank Solace' but elves had no beliefs as such and no elf would ever pray to Solace, not to the mother of dragons and mother of all who had first sealed the alliance with humans and her kin.  
  
"You scared us," Oran said at last when Tanis was lying down again because it made her thigh ache less. "The blade was poisoned we think, Ilea said the wound wasn't deep enough to have caused enough damage to have done that to you."  
  
"Idiot," Ilea snapped and suddenly she was gone, leaving Tanis to frown at Oran.  
  
"Where are you going?" The nymph asked with an aggrieved sigh and Tanis wondered just how long she had been semi-conscious.  
  
"Hunting, if that's fine with everyone." She didn't wait for a reply though, stomping off with her bow in hand, quiver slung over her shoulder.  
  
Oran sighed again, handing Tanis some berries to chew slowly, the sweetness threatening to upset her stomach. "Please don't do anything like that again, Ilea is insufferable when she's upset."  
  
"She's angry?" Tanis asked, finishing her tea, relieved that her throat definitely felt better now though her voice was still hoarse but it was hardly surprising, given what she could remember and she didn't quite know how to ask if she'd screamed at all when the poison had been in her blood, it was embarrassing and shameful enough to her that she had wept.  
  
"Angry?" Oran stared for a moment before she laughed and snorted. "Try worried. Maybe some anger came into but she was _worried_." She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world or that it should have been to Tanis who frowned and wondered if she had forgotten something.  
  
"They really were right." Another laugh accompanied the words, one of disbelief. "Humans and elves are both so very dense, of course she was worried! So was I!"  
  
"My whole job," Tanis rose up on her elbows but soon regretted the action when her shoulders and ribs ached in protest forcing her to lie flat once more, "was to protect Ilea's life and clearly I did not. She has no reason to worry about you."  
  
"She has no reason to worry about you?" Oran repeated incredulously and Tanis had to look away. "Do I have no reason to worry?"  
  
"Of course not, you're a friend-"  
  
"And Ilea isn't?"  
  
Tanis opened and shut her mouth, attempting to argue but she huffed in annoyance. "You wouldn't understand," she muttered at last.  
  
Oran hit her. Gently. But she still hit her. "I wouldn't understand?"  
  
"My duty was to keep her safe. I did not. We are not friends. I am her subject and that's that."  
  
"Go back to sleep." Oran turned away, frowning and Tanis reached out but she moved. "You need your rest."  
  
Tanis sighed but she couldn't deny that she was somehow still tired so she closed her eyes and shifted as much as she dared, falling asleep quickly to dreams of Ilea's red eyes as she screamed her name.  
  
When she woke again Ilea had returned and Oran was doing whatever it was that she did when she needed rest. She looked better now, Tanis remembering how ill she had seemed when she'd been beneath the earth but her anger – no, not anger, it was more like a mix of disbelief, disgust and disappointment all mingled with relief – still lingered in her mind. She coughed lightly, unwilling to draw Ilea's attention but the elf sighed quietly and poked at the fire with a stick.  
  
"You should rest," she said whispered and Tanis wanted to move but she had no idea if her leg would be able to deal with it right now and she didn't want to cause a fuss, not now when her head felt as strangely heavy as it did.  
  
"Thirsty," she admitted and Ilea reached into a pack to hand her a skin of water. She forced herself to sip and not gulp but it was a struggle, the water cool and soothing on her still sore throat.  
  
"You should eat too, something more than berries and honey. Can you manage meat?"  
  
"I think so." She was hungry now that meat had been mentioned and again Ilea handed it over but she didn't turn to face her and Tanis frowned at her back even as she thanked her, chewing the dried meat thoughtfully, savouring every bite. "How long-"  
  
"A week."  
  
Tanis swore, almost choking. "A week?"  
  
"A week," Ilea confirmed and she sounded exhausted. "We had to drag you the first day and part of the night, we wanted some distance but none followed. We came out closer to Tishlen than I thought we would but we haven't moved since, you were too ill."  
  
"Gerenthe," Tanis sighed, rubbing her eyes with one hand as she sat up carefully, the strip of meat held in her mouth as she took a chance to stretch, muscles stiff and sore, joints popping.  
  
"You don't have to apologise."  
  
"I was meant to-"  
  
"Just-" Ilea cut herself off suddenly but there was no mistaking that she was angry and _still_ she wouldn't turn. "Just don't," she finished and poked the fire more forcefully.  
  
"I-"  
  
"I said don't!"  
  
Ilea turned to face her then and her eyes and the tip of her nose were red and raw and Tanis couldn't look away, no matter how much she wanted to. Ilea turned away first, dropping her head and hunching her shoulders and carefully, so very carefully, Tanis shifted, relieved that her leg seemed to hurt a little less when she did so. It still flared and throbbed but she had to move at some point and Ilea didn't gasp or shout, she only twitched as if she wanted to move but thought better of it.  
  
"You should be resting."  
  
"We can't stay here indefinitely." She reached out with her magic and let the flames rise, relieved when she watched them responding to her touch, rising higher and flickering as she wriggled her fingers. A silly thing to worry about but dwarven poisons were foul things and she was amazed that she had survived. She gave Ilea a sidelong look and the elf looked away, a flush on her cheeks, having been busy watching Tanis and she remembered Oran's words. "She said you were worried about me."  
  
Ilea laughed, a hollow broken thing that sounded almost like a sob. "And that is so outlandish a thing."  
  
"Elves don't care for the lives of humans," Tanis muttered because it felt foolish to say it now, investigating the area surrounding her wound with her fingertips so she had something to distract herself. "Not when it was my duty to-"  
  
"She said you would be like this. That you would only want to talk about your _duty_ ," Ilea spat and she turned to face Tanis fully, crying again and Tanis wondered just how long she had wept for, how long had she sat or listened as the poison worked its way through her body. Had she played it over and over in her mind? Tanis taking the blow and then the escape? "You almost died for me! I thought I was going to have to watch you succumb to that poison, you were tossing and turning, you kept reopening the wound and neither Oran or I are healers! You were dying for all we knew. You were dying!"  
  
"I was sent to see you safely to the dwarven empire and out. That was all." Tanis replied but it felt wrong, it felt so wrong to say and Ilea made a noise of disgust.  
  
"You value your own life so little?"  
  
"I belong to my people. I am to do as commanded, to keep them safe, to stand between them and whatever threatens them."  
  
"That is all?" Tanis looked away and pressed down hard with her fore and middle fingers near the edge of the wound, savouring the bloom of pain because she could pretend that the tears in her eyes came from that and not the way Ilea's voice cracked at her words. There was a great weight in her belly, like something dragging her down and a thousand old hurts clawed at her, rage hot enough to choke her so that she couldn't breathe, a strangled gasp escaping her and there was Ilea, grabbing her hand away from the wound and sighing when Tanis' fingers came away wet with blood. "I thought you were going to die-"  
  
"Ilea, don't." It was Tanis' turn to interrupt but Ilea only shook her head and smiled sadly, not letting go of her hand, their fingers linked.  
  
"I thought you were going to die and I was terrified. I'd watched you fight and I had never seen anything like it before, it was like you weren't human, I thought you were going to turn into a dragon." She laughed quietly but didn't notice that Tanis simply stared, eyes wide, unsure what she was to make of just how soft Ilea's voice was, how fond she sounded. "Then I saw that dwarf's sword in your leg and you faltered and I couldn't breathe. I was angry, frightened too and hurt, but I was angry and I don't even remember doing what I did, I just had to get you out, I didn't want what happened to them to happen to you-"  
  
"Ilea," Tanis tried to interrupt but the elf either didn't hear her or she couldn't stop now, tears on her cheeks as she looked up at the sky.  
  
"Then you breathed fire and you were smiling and I thought this was it, I thought I would lose you forever and I-" She inhaled sharply, breath hitching on a sob and this wasn't right, elves didn't care about human lives, she and Ilea had been arguing, she remembered that, Ilea had had to save _her_ and not the other way around, the way it was meant to be and-  
  
She squeezed Ilea's hand again. Apologised softly not for her actions but for what they had caused and Ilea smiled again, wiping her tears.  
  
"I didn't want to lose you, you mean a great deal to me," she whispered and Tanis swallowed painfully.  
  
"My life has never belonged to me. We don't have what you have, it was always do your duty Tanis. Make us proud but expect no reward for doing what is expected and required. We know best Tanis. We are your elders and we must make Jormsen strong." It was an awful lot like lancing a wound and she knew she would never have said it if she hadn't felt exhausted from it all, the last traces of the poison lingering in her body as she let Ilea wrap an arm around her so that Tanis could rest her cheek on her shoulder. "If I died then they would only want my heart back, no one would mourn." Well, her mother would, Torrin too but she would be forgotten all too soon, just a name on documents and a memorial. "My whole life I have trained to be ready for death and I was afraid."  
  
"There's no shame in being afraid of death."  
  
"There is for us. It is something to aspire to," she said bitterly, allowing Ilea to guide her back so she was lying down so she could check on her wound, raising her hips with minimal prompting for the elf to guide her trousers down and change the bandages. "You have given your life for your people, what a glorious sacrifice, how much you must love them all, what a beacon to aspire to."  
  
"No one should live like that."  
  
"We are what the world has made us." She hissed when the bandage stuck to her skin, Ilea forced to tug it free, apologising with soothing murmurs as she cleaned up the blood and Tanis raised herself up enough to look down at it. It was an ugly thing and it would leave a scar without a real healer to look at it but it wasn't as bad as it could have been; someone had watched over her, there had to have been someone who heard her prayers. "That isn't your fault," she added, remembering past discussions because it wasn't Ilea's fault. Ilea hadn't been alive then. Ilea hadn't slaughtered humans and nymphs, siding with dwarves to reduce them to pale shadows of what they had been.  
  
"No but I want to set it right, as much as I can, we will go to Tishlen and that is what we will do." There was a resolve in her voice that made Tanis smile and it was the longest she'd been awake since she'd been wounded and she yawned, Ilea redressing the wound with surprising efficiency but then again, she'd probably had plenty of practice by now.  "Rest. We need to get on the move soon and sleep will do you good."  
  
"Will you stay?" Tanis asked and she could have cursed herself for how pathetic she sounded to her own ears, shy and hopeful.  
  
Ilea's answer was to squeeze her hand and stroke her hair. When Tanis could no longer keep her eyes open she pressed a kiss to her brow and this time the darkness was comforting.


	14. Chapter 14

Tishlen stood before them as bright and glittering as when she and Ilea had departed. It had taken several days but Tanis had finally been able to walk without limping or shouting in pain – she'd been told in no uncertain terms that should she grit her teeth and force herself to keep going that they would carry her if she was so desperate to get on the road – and with how close they had emerged to Tishlen combined with the continuing thaw, she only hurt at the end of the day or if they moved along difficult terrain. The roads were still quiet and it had been the only discussion on the road since they'd set off; if anyone else knew what had happened and if so, what would happen to them when they returned to Tishlen. None of the answers were comforting and even Ilea seemed hesitant to lead them through the gates, the guards looking at them strangely. They must have been quite the sight, a dirty and bedraggled princess, her human knight still looking ill by all accounts and strangest of all, some unknown wood nymph tagging along and peering at everyone and everything.  
  
"Inform my parents that I have returned, we are weary from travel and must rest before we discuss our findings with them," Ilea commanded and Tanis was impressed that she could look so regal even when dirty and exhausted. A small group of guards escorted them to the palace but Ilea asked for silence and no talk, skilfully apologising for any rudeness by asking how they managed such shifts all day when she could barely manage living in the wilds without losing all her manners. Tanis felt that she should have been annoyed by some sort of perceived slight but things had changed in a way she couldn't name and it was funnier to watch the way the guards fawned over her and recoiled whenever one of Oran's branches or vines touched them.  
  
There was little ceremony at the palace, just the king and queen looking aghast at the state of them and calling for baths and chambers, for food and drink to be brought as well and healers to check on Tanis. She bathed first, unwilling to let anyone else see her in the state she was, dirty and sweaty, flakes of dried blood on her skin because the wound still bled from time to time. She'd have cauterised it if she'd had the chance but now that would cause more harm than good so she would need to wait for the verdict of a healer here. The water stung when it hit her but she felt better for it, spending time scrubbing herself until she was pink all over and warm, combing free so many snarls and tangles until she could rub her hair dry as best she could before the fire, thanking the servants who came to empty the bath and take her stinking clothes and armour to be cleaned. She fashioned her hair into a braid as she waited for the verdict of the healer who shook her head at Ilea's dressing of the wound but it would have to do, a sole human healer appearing to lay hands on her, the magic buzzing through her body and leaving her woozy in the aftermath. It would scar, she'd already known that, but there would be no lingering damage and there had been no infection save for the poison she had mentioned when asked and both the elf and human had laughed together and assured her that the hot meal and bath would probably do more good than them. She found she was too tired and comfortable to worry about the morning when she finally climbed into bed, a generous measure of wine having been present in the stew that had been sent along and she slept well although she found she missed the noise of the wild and Ilea's warmth next to her.  
  
She woke at first light and was pleased to find that for the first time in weeks, her body didn't hurt when she got up and stretched. Clothes had been left for her – she had no illusions about the state of what she had travelled back in, it had probably been burned – and her armour had been polished and repaired enough to make it look presentable for meeting the royals. A servant arrived with a small tray of breakfast food and she ate at the table in silence after making herself presentable, missing the mornings with Ilea and Oran where they had all sat around together and discussed the paths they would take or the weather, sharing stories. She shouldn't have become accustomed to their companionship so quickly when silence was what she was used to and what she preferred in Jormsen and yet she had. She'd liked being around them and though the thought of going home was so welcome, to be somewhere familiar, to feel safe, she would miss Ilea. But she would not be safe, would she? Everything had changed when they had gone down to the dwarven kingdom but even before that, she was not the same woman who had departed from Jormsen on an errand she had wanted no part in. Going back – the old fear of before that she would be allowed to leave so easily bubbled to the surface once more, turning her stomach enough that she pushed her breakfast away from her – would feel so lonely even if Oran chose to take the same route back to Borea. She wanted to go home but this felt unfinished. They had stumbled upon something and there were too many questions that needed answering for her to in all good conscience abandon it to Ilea. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door and she stood ready, Ilea on the other side clad in a gown, makeup on and hair swept up and braided elaborately, looking like a completely different person. Tanis had become used to her as she was in the wilds, her hair pulled back or in simple braids, in leathers with a bow strapped to her back and cheeks pink from the sting of the wind. She looked nervous when she smiled at Tanis, Oran following her.  
  
"We have a private audience with my parents to discuss our findings, I came to collect you. Are you ready?" She asked, peeking into the room and Tanis nodded, turning only to strap on her sword, still unwilling to be in strange halls without them. "Do you feel well?"  
  
"The healer says there won't be any lasting damage but that you need lessons in how to properly treat and bandage wounds," Tanis admitted with a grin and Ilea's laugh echoed off the stone walls.  
  
"Well you're still here, it cannot have been so terrible. You slept well?"  
  
"I don't even remember falling asleep. I camp often but I admit that I missed having a bed and a proper bath, a good hot meal too."  
  
"I know, I was glad no one came to my chambers, I abandoned all pretence of having manners," Ilea admitted.  
  
"What about you Oran?" Tanis asked, noting the flowers that bloomed along the nymphs body, how green her leaves seemed.  
  
"I went to the winter gardens and spoke with the trees."  
  
"Anything interesting to report?"  
  
"There was a griffin that howled for a week without end."  
  
"That'd be Geir," Ilea said and she smiled sadly. "I missed him too, stupid beast."  
  
They fell silent as they approached the private study of the king and queen, a huge wooden door painted white with snowflakes and ice crystals picked out in silver filigree along it and it opened inward, elven attendants bowing as they entered before they left, closing the doors behind them. The rulers hurried forward, sweeping Ilea into their arms as Oran looked on with a smile and Tanis looked away, readying herself for whatever discussion was to come and finding that she didn't wish to intrude upon a private moment between parents and their only daughter returning home.  
  
"Oh we were so worried the longer you went without word!" The king exclaimed, beckoning the rest of them forward to sit before the fire in chairs so ornate that they reminded Tanis of miniature thrones.  
  
"We heard you were injured Tanis," the queen added and the worry seemed genuine, making Tanis flustered for a moment.  
  
"A small wound, your grace," she began, unsure what was best to say, "unfortunately the mission was not without confrontation."  
  
"She saved my life," Ilea interrupted breathlessly and Tanis had to suppress the sudden urge to flinch.  
  
"She-" the king began then cut himself off, unable to keep the shock from his face, the queen similarly alarmed.  
  
"Perhaps we should start from the beginning?" Tanis suggested helplessly and thankfully Ilea nodded. They recounted the tale as a trio, beginning from meeting Oran and what she and the other nymphs had felt before they discussed the dwarven kingdom. She watched the faces of the rulers intently, especially as they got to the end, to discussing the dwarven activities and her heart leapt when Ilea did not explain the truth behind the Dragon Knights and why their discovery was so especially abhorrent. A wave of gratitude washed over her and she just about kept her face composed as she spoke of the battle, allowing the others to take over.  
  
"We believe the dwarves are trying to raise dragons, or something similar, it is the only explanation. We felt the tremors and they coincided with their activities," Ilea finished, sitting up straight as they waited for a response. Tanis could not read their faces, centuries of living likely having taught them how to keep their masks in place and the longer they said nothing, the more she wished to squirm or at least wipe her sweating palms on her legs. "Mother? Father?" Ilea asked, her own mask gone as she frowned in confusion.  
  
"We thank you all for your aid in this matter and we believe it is at an end," the king said at last and Ilea swore.  
  
"That's it? We went there, we have answers! We all know the situation with the west-"  
  
"Enough Ilea! Tanis of Jormsen, we thank you for your aid, you are free to return to Jormsen as soon as you are able, your services to the crown shall not be forgotten," the queen announced, rising to her feet at the same time as her husband. "And to you as well, Oran of Borea. That we might all still work together warms an old heart but we must not take any rash actions."  
  
"Didn't you listen to me?" Ilea continued angrily, her hands balled into fists at her side. "We were attacked, they did not want to show us anything, we found bones and eggs and some strange magic-"  
  
"Ilea you have conducted your investigation and now it is time for you to calm yourself and prepare yourself for a life at court," the king said and Tanis couldn't help but stare, unsure as to what exactly was going on.  
  
"They are doing something and it will threaten us all. They attacked us! A similar threat from elsewhere you would see as an act of war, we need to find out more! We found the banner of Rella Regnai, a recent one, supplies that I'm sure must have come from tehre. The dwarves have kept secrets from us for so long, there was no record of them taking humans--"  
  
"We said enough. You may leave."  
  
Tanis got to her feet, Oran helping her when her leg flashed with pain from sitting for so long. "Your majesties, with greatest respect, the magic I felt was unlike anything I have encountered. It was a dark and terrible thing, corrupted. There was a strange mist in the air."  
  
"We thank you but this goes above your station human."  
  
It was like being slapped. Ilea seized both her and Oran by the wrists and dragged them out after her, muttering the whole time as she lead them through the palace, servants and guards and all manner of elves and humans staring at them the whole time until they reach her chambers where she slammed the doors shut.  
  
"I cannot _believe_ they are dismissing what we discovered! We found proof that the dwarves are to blame for the activities and it has something to do with the dragons and the hearts that we found there! And they would dismiss it so quickly! We have proof that Rella Regnai has been supplying them too or good enough!" She kicked a chair hard and it clattered to the marble floor, Ilea wrenching pins from her hair and almost tearing the necklace from her throat, Tanis looking over at Oran and shrugging because she had absolutely no idea either.  
  
"Ilea maybe you should sit," Oran suggested, patting the bed.  
  
"I feel like we're missing something," Tanis said and Ilea turned, dragging her hair back to tie it in place in a simply ponytail.  
  
"They want me to settle down now. They think that the best way to resolve all of this is to marry me off to someone from Rella Regnai. It would be an alliance, a powerful one. Moja is seen as far too liberal, no one hears from the east and there's no one from anywhere else. I'm the only daughter, it would...it would be a huge offering to them." She collapsed to the bed between them, reaching for their hands. "Going on this quest was meant to be me ridding the last of my wildness I think. I don't think they ever cared about what I found."  
  
"They would do that?" Tanis asked, frowning at the notion of ever being married off. What had happened to her was bad enough but to have that happen, to be given no real say? It was monstrous.  
  
"They would," Ilea confirmed.  
  
"So what will you do?" Oran asked.  
  
"If I stay then nothing changes, I cannot set anything right and prevent something awful. I _know_ something terrible will happen. If I leave...they would not allow it. I know that discussions and negotiations have already begun and if I say no to them, then there's only one way for them to avoid scandal."  
  
"And that would be?"  
  
"Exile. I would be cast out and the problem would be...not solved exactly," Ilea explained, letting go of their hands to play with her skirts, wringing the fabric between her fingers, "but they couldn't just let me leave. It would give me a chance to return too, there would be a speech about repentance and how whenever I wished to beg forgiveness that it would be waiting for me and I'm sure that the very next day my engagement and marriage would be announced and I would be sent off to Rella Regnai."  
  
"Why didn't you tell us this?" Tanis asked and Ilea laughed.  
  
"Because I tried not to think about it. I hoped that I was wrong. Is it so bad, to want to believe the best in the people you love and that they only want that for you, even if they go about it the wrong way?"  
  
It hit too close to home and Tanis looked away, ashamed because she understood exactly how Ilea must have felt.  
  
"So what do we do then?" It was Oran who asked, folding her arms and waiting.  
  
"We pack. We have to tell your people about this Tanis, we should probably inform the nymphs too. There is something brewing and my people do not want to see it, for reasons I can only guess at. Whether it's civil war or that they fear what the dwarves might unleash, I can't say but I cannot stay here."  
  
"When do we leave?"  
  
"Tonight, I can say I wish to escort you both to the gates, it would be rude of me to do anything else, we can give Oran my pack and say it has Tanis' things in it and that she cannot manage all of it alone on the way to Jormsen."  
  
"What if they chase us?" Tanis asked, not relishing the prospect of fighting elves so close to Tishlen.  
  
"They won't, trust me."  
  
"Human and nymph remember. Running away with the princess."  
  
"I have to agree with Tanis there Ilea."  
  
"I know it's hard but you have to trust me, they will not follow. There are rules and etiquette. Such an act would be called exile by my parents or the west would hear too much of it; we have to save face here when they are already spreading so far north."  
  
"Do you really know what you're giving up Ilea?" Tanis asked quietly and the elf took her hand, the other cupping her cheek and she almost forgot Oran was there with them too, that it wasn't just her and Ilea alone in her chambers.  
  
"I do, I know it will hurt but I cannot allow this to continue. There are things that must be set right and I would see it done."  
  
And so they left to their rooms, Oran with Ilea's pack that she covered with leaves and vines, leaving behind whatever they could afford when they were guaranteed rooms in Jormsen and a place to gather fresh supplies. They said little, untrusting of elven ears until Ilea arrived to see them off, clad in her leather armour and with a warm cloak wrapped about her. Tanis wondered if the king and queen suspected anything as she and Oran bowed to say goodbye, the trio walking as quickly as they dared in the cool night air to the gates of Tishlen where the guards watched them. When Ilea walked through with them, they panicked and one ran after, his bow in hand.  
  
"Your majesty!"  
  
"Tell my parents that I have chosen exile to spare them the pain of disgracing me in public and seeing me dragged from the city. This is my choice, they may condemn me later when they do not have to look upon me to do it. You will not follow, there are things I must do. I ask only that you tell them I'm sorry for the pain I cause them but not for what I plan to do." There were tears in Ilea's eyes as she spoke and the guard was moved too, hesitating and bowing before he ran back to the gates, Ilea leading Tanis and Oran down the road.  
  
"Just like that?" Oran asked quietly and Ilea nodded.  
  
"They might send a spy or two after me but they might even choose to keep it quiet as long as they can before anyone in the west finds out and starts agitating. I am no longer Ilea of House Aenvi, no longer a princess. Just an elf."  
  
"All because they did not wish to see," Tanis muttered sadly and Ilea nodded again, taking her pack from Oran. "I hope my people might see sense and understand when I discuss the magic involved but anyone should have been afraid of what the dwarves are planning beneath us, regardless of whether we understand it or not."  
  
"When has anything here been simple?" It was Oran who made the remark and somehow the three of them managed to share a laugh as Tanis took the lead, finding the path she had first taken when she left, knowing they would be forced to travel in the dark to get some safe distance between them and Tishlen. "You left your family and home for us though Ilea, you have no regrets?"  
  
"My place is with both of you now," Ilea said decisively, looking up to the where the mountains sat in the distance, the tips hidden by thick cloud, "you're all the home and family I have left."  
  
Tanis hesitated for a moment before she took her hand and squeezed tight, giving her a reassuring smile despite the uncertainties their future held before she took the lead for the journey up the mountain and to Jormsen. It felt right, to hear Ilea say that and to be returning home with her and Oran in tow and she could only hope that whatever they had started in the dwarven kingdom and in leaving Tishlen as they had would do nothing to erase it. A lone wolf howled in the distance and a flurry of snow whipped at her face and hair. She was going home. She had been to an elven kingdom, she had been to the belly of the void that marked the dwarven empire and she was going home with a sense of purpose she had seldom known before.


End file.
